Am I Required to Pay an Expiation for This Oath I Took?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
I swore by Allah that I wouldn’t take money after paying for a meal with friends, but they insisted and sent me money, which I kept. Must I pay expiation, and if so, how do I do it?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
You will be required to give one expiation (kaffara) for breaking the oath by taking the money. However, you may want to give away the money to charity. In this way, you have not accepted the money and will not have to pay the expiation, too. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; ‘Ala’ al-Din ‘Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-‘Ala’iyya]
Expiation (kaffara) of a Broken Oath
The expiation (kaffara) for a broken oath is:
- to free a slave or
- to feed ten poor adult people two meals a day for ten days or
- cloth ten adult poor people with average quality clothing which will cover most of their body.
If these are not possible, then:
- one must fast for three days continuously in a row.
Unnecessary Oaths
Scholars say, one should avoid uttering oaths using Allah’s name unnecessarily especially for any small and trivial matter, whether Islamically or worldly. This can put one in a bother. Also, some people have a habit of saying the oaths in every sentence, this is a form of disrespect, using Allah’s name in every sentence one speaks.
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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
