The Ahadeeth of Tawheed
from the
Silsilah Ahadeeth As-Saheehah
of
Shaykh Al-Albaani
Translated by
Abbas Abu Yahya
30 – Making a vow for other than Allaah
479 – ‘There are two types of vows, firstly, that which was for Allaah, so its expiation is fulfilling it. Secondly that which was for Shaytaan then there is no fulfillment of that but the expiation is the penalty of the unfulfilled vow.’
This hadeeth is an evidence for two issues.
The first: If a vow is done for the obedience of Allaah, then it is obligatory to fulfill it, and that is its expiation.
Indeed it has been authentically narrated on the authority of the Messenger -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam – that he said:
‘Whoever took a vow that he will obey Allaah, then he should obey Him. And whoever took a vow in that he will be disobedient to Allaah, then he should not be disobedient to Him.’
Agreed upon by Bukhari and Muslim.
The other issue is if a person took a vow whereby he would disobey Allaah and obey the Shaytaan, then it is not permissible for him to fulfill the vow. It is upon him to make expiation, which is the penalty of the unfulfilled vow.
If the vow was something which was disliked or just allowed in the Sharia’, then it is with all the more reason to make an expiation. Due to the saying of the Messenger –alayhim Sallat wa Sallam: ‘The expiation of a vow is the penalty of the unfulfilled vow.’ narrated by Muslim and other than him from the hadeeth of ‘Uqbah bin ‘Aamir – Radhi Allaahu anhu – and it has been researched in ‘al-Irwaa’ (2653).
From what we have mentioned regarding the first issue and the second issue is something which is agreed upon by the scholars. Except for the expiation which is obligatory for sinning and aspects similar to this. This is the opinion of the Madhab of Imaam Ahmad and Ishaaq, as is mentioned by Tirmidhi (1/288). It is also the Madhab of the Hanafiyah. This is what is correct for this hadeeth, and also those Ahadeeth which have this meaning, from what we have indicated.