Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

assalam alaikum
i would like to know what to do if we break a oath? 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Break oath vow atonement

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Islam absolutely discourages and prohibits the believers from taking a solemn oath which stops them from doing any good, or a oath which enjoins them to do an evil….if one amongst the believers has indeed taken such an oath which forbids oneself good or enjoins evil, then one should break their oath and fulfill the atonement of the violation of their oaths.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 24 Surah Noor verse 22:

22 Let not those among you who are endued with grace and amplitude of means resolve by oath against helping their kinsmen those in want and those who have left their homes in Allah's Cause: let them forgive and overlook: do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? For Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.

For example, one should never take a solemn oath saying that he will break a tie of blood-relation; or that he will abuse or revile someone; or that he will indulge or consume something of the ‘haraam’; etc. If one has taken such an unlawful oath, then one should break one’s oath and expiate for its violation.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 89:

89 Allah will not call you to account for what is futile in your oaths, but He will call you to account for your deliberate oaths: for expiation feed ten indigent persons on a scale of the average for the food of your families; or clothe them; or give a slave his freedom. If that is beyond your means, fast for three days. That is the expiation for the oaths ye have sworn. But keep to your oaths. Thus doth Allah make clear to you His Signs that ye may be grateful.

If one has taken a solemn oath to do or abstain from something, and if for any valid reason one wishes or has to break their oath, the expiation or atonement for breaking a solemn oath in Shariah is as follows:

1. Feed ten indigent or poor persons a meal which one would normally feed their families with;
2. Or, provide clothing for ten indigent or poor people;
3. Or, free a slave; but
4. If doing any of the three atonements is genuinely beyond one’s means, then one should fast for three days and that would suffice as an expiation for violating the terms of their solemn oath.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan