he reaches puberty; the insane person until he regains his sanity, and the sleeper until he wakes up.” The hadith therefore shows that a vow is not binding on any of these three, for the pen has been lifted from them.

A vow uttered by a non-Muslim is nonetheless valid if it concerns an act of worship, and he must carry it out once he embraces Islam. ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—said, “In the pre-Islamic period I vowed to spend a night in retreat.” The Prophet ﷺ said to him, “Fulfil your vow.”

A sound vow falls into five categories:

1. The unrestricted vow. This is when a person simply says, “I owe Allah a vow,” without specifying anything. He is then required to offer the expiation for an oath, whether his statement was absolute or conditional, for ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The expiation for a vow when nothing is specified is the same as the expiation for an oath.” Ibn Mājah and al-Tirmidhī transmitted this report, and al-Tirmidhī graded it “sound, authentic, singular.” The hadith thus proves that expiation is obligatory whenever one does not name the act he has vowed to Allah.

2. The vow made in obstinacy or anger. This is a vow linked to a condition with the purpose of preventing an action, urging it, affirming something, or denying it—such as saying, “If I speak to you…,” “If I do not inform on you…,” “If this report is not true…,” or “If it is a lie….”