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Vowed not to do a Specific Thing, but Broke his Vow

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Darul Iftaa Jordan
I took a vow not to do a specific thing(lawful), but did it. What am I liable for?

Answer:
It is worth pointing out that the vow concerns a business transaction.All perfect praise be to the Lord of The Worlds. If what you have uttered wasn`t in the form of an oath and you didn`t specify a certain act of worship in your vow, such as saying : Allah is my witness that I won`t do so and so, then you aren`t obliged to offer an expiation. However, if you made an oath to quit something or took a vow where you said: Allah is my witness if I do so and so, I will draw closer to Him by performing a certain act of worship, but you didn`t fulfill either of them(vow and oath), then you are obliged to offer an expiation which is feeding ten needy persons, a Mud for each (a Mud`s cash value ranges from half a JD to a JD), or clothing them, but if you couldn`t then you could observe fast for three days. This because, according to Muslim jurists, this vow is known as "Lojaj" i.e. "Vowing to prevent himself o someone else from doing something or encouraging himself or someone else to do something, while in a state of anger, is associated with commitment to offer an act of devotion." Allah's Messenger (PBUH) said: "The atonement for a vow (Nadhr) is (the same as) the atonement of an oath (Yamin)." {Reported by Muslim}. And Allah knows best.

This answer was collected from the official government Iftaa Department of Jordan.

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