that it is permissible to postpone the expiation until after one has broken the oath.

Abu Dāwūd records the wording, “Make expiation for your oath, then do what is better,” which proves the permissibility of offering the expiation before committing the breach. Taken together, the reports therefore establish that both advancing and delaying the expiation are allowed.

From the Sunnah—as well as the mutual rights of Muslims—it is recommended to honor a brother’s adjuration when he solemnly requests it. Al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib (d. 72 AH) related: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded us with seven duties: to visit the sick, to follow funeral processions, to respond to the sneezer with a supplication, to fulfill the oath of the one who adjures you, to support the oppressed, to answer invitations, and to spread the greeting of peace.”

If a person repeats several oaths regarding the same act before making any expiation, then violates them, only one expiation is required. The same applies when he swears a single oath covering multiple matters—such as saying, “By Allah, I will neither eat, nor drink, nor wear clothes”—and then breaks one of them; one expiation suffices and the remainder of the oath is dissolved, for it was but a single oath.

By contrast, if he swears separate oaths about different actions and then breaks them, an expiation is due for each individual oath.

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) said: “Regarding the one who repeats oaths before expiating them, there are several reported opinions. The third view—and it is the soundest—is that if the oaths concern a single act, one expiation suffices; otherwise, there must be an expiation for each oath.”