Islam Guidance

Useless Vow

Useless Vow 

From the foregoing discussion we can conclude that a vow is only valid when there is some inherrent good or evil in the concerned action. Therefore one can take a vow only for acts that one is inclined towards or those that are Wajib or mustahab. Similarly if a person vows to refrain from a particular action he must feel an aversion to it or it should be something makrÅ«h or Harām. Hence to vow to perform some lewd action is itself lewdness. Such a vow is invalid from Shari’a point of view. We must never vow to perform evil acts whether it is evil according to reason or according to Shari’a.

It is Harām for one to vow to omit Wajib or mustahab prayers or vow not to speak to ones mother or any other relative. It is also not allowed to vow against performing Hajj if one is capable of doing so. To vow that one would never mediate between two believers is also Harām. All such vows are invalid. Hence if one has ever taken such vows one must repent for them.

 Hazrat Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) says,

“If one takes a vow to refrain from a beneficial act he must perform it (and disregard the vow). There is no kaffarah for breaking such a vow. It is only a satanic instigation.”

(al-Kāfi)

 Although apparently the above tradition and other such reports imply that a vow for a mubah act which is beneficial is invalid, the mujtahids are of the opinion that one must exercise caution and in case such a vow is broken, kaffarah should be paid. According to the majority of the jurists a mubah thing becomes Wajib if one takes a vow for it. Thus the best thing is to follow the path of precaution.

 SaÄ«d Aerāj, a narrator of traditions says that he asked Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) about a person who had vowed to do a particular thing, whereas the avoidance of that was more beneficial, and now the person himself was worried to disregard his vow. Imam (a.s.) said,

“Have you not heard the Messenger of Allah (S) say that whenever you find that you have vowed against doing something that is better to be done, you must ignore your vow?”

(al-Kāfi)

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