How Many Expiations Do I Owe for Broken Oaths I Cannot Count?

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question

I have taken several oaths before Allah, promising not to listen to music, and have broken those oaths, but I do not remember how many there were. What is my obligation in this case, and is there a separate expiation for each oath?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

May Allah reward you for the seriousness with which you took your oaths and for having avoided what you had sworn to avoid. Such determination is beloved to Allah.

For each oath you are certain you took and then broke, you must offer one expiation (kaffara). Decide on the smallest number that you are sure of, go with that, and ignore all the rest.

Because you have no income, fulfilling your obligation consists of fasting three days for each expiation, and the fasts may be spread out according to your health.

Count Only What You Are Certain Of

The basic principle of the sacred law is that certainty is not lifted by doubt [Suyuti, al-Ashbah wa al-Naza’ir]. Expiation is only required for what you know happened.

Therefore, sit down and fix the smallest number of oaths which you are certain that you made and then broke, and let that number stand. If, for instance, you are certain about two and only suspect a third, then two expiations are owed.

Two other points make the situation clearer. It is sufficient to offer only one expiation when one breaks the same oath repeatedly; a second expiation is only required if a new oath is taken after violating the first one.

And in the case where it is not certain whether a subsequent oath was a new one or merely a repetition of the first for emphasis, it should be regarded as a repetition, since there is doubt about the additional obligation. [Shirbini, Mughni al-Muhtaj]

Fasting Fulfills the Expiation When You Cannot Feed the Poor

Allah Most High says: “Allah will not call you to account for your thoughtless oaths, but He will hold you accountable for deliberate oaths.” [Quran 5:89]

The verse then sets the expiation as feeding ten poor people, clothing them, or freeing a slave, and for the one unable to do so, fasting for three days.

Since you are unable to feed or clothe the poor, your expiation is to fast. In the Shafi’i school, the three days need not be consecutive. [Nawawi, Minhaj al-Talibin]

Since you have recently recovered from tuberculosis, fast only when you are strong enough. The obligation is a debt to Allah, and spreading the fasts over weeks or months is sound.

Close the Book

When you have decided on your number and started the fasts, this matter is concluded before Allah. Should your mind pull you back to recall or imagine forgotten oaths, treat that as a baseless misgiving (waswasa) and ignore it, for the sacred law itself has instructed you that such doubts carry no weight.

You did the right thing in ceasing to take oaths, so hold to that decision, maintain your resolve regarding music through ordinary determination and supplication (du’a), and place your trust in the vastness of Allah’s mercy.

And Allah knows best.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Related Answers

Have I Broken My Oath? – Clarifies what constitutes a binding oath, when an oath is considered broken, and how to perform the required expiation.

Should Multiple Oaths Linked to a Single Action Require Separate Expiations? – Examines whether several oaths concerning the same act require one expiation or multiple expiations according to the juristic principles.

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), where he taught.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Shaykh Muhammad Awama, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Hitu, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has been the Director of the Discover Islam Centre, and for six years, he has been the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has fifteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic podcast, education, and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy Prophetic living and fitness.