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:

I have a question and i want your help

I just want to know if someone break the promise. what is the punishment for this?

Someone promise that he will marry me but after that he just give some excuse and trying to keep him away from me and its really painful for me. if I want i can do so many bad things for him but i m afraid of Allah. 

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Answer:

Breaking of oath or promise for edit

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.

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.

The making of a promise or the taking of an oath in the Blessed Name of Allah Subhanah to do or not do something is extremely serious in the Sight of Allah Subhanah and one must fear Allah and strive to honor their promises and their oaths.

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.

But if one simply makes a false promise or takes an oath with absolutely no intention of fulfilling it, or makes excuses when the time comes to fulfill their oath….that would be considered abject dishonesty and indeed a grave and heinous sin in the Sight of Allah Subhanah. If the person who does such a heinous crime dies in a state whereby he does not seek repentance for their dishonesty from their Lord, nor seeks the forgiveness of the person they defrauded….they should prepare for an extremely severe Day of Accounting in the Presence of their Lord Most Majestic, Most Supreme.

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