Linguistically, a vow (nadhr) means “to obligate.”
Legally, it is for a legally responsible, willing person to bind himself to Allah with a particular act.
• Expiation (kafārah): morphologically on the pattern faʿʿālah (with assimilation), taken from the root meaning “to cover.” It is so called because it “covers” the sin—i.e., conceals it. Technically, it is whatever removes liability, such as emancipation of a slave, fasting, or giving charity.
Lessons drawn from the ḥadith
The report clarifies three kinds of vows:
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An unrestricted vow, for example: “I owe Allah a vow,” without specifying its object; or: “I vow to Allah that if I do such-and-such” and then he does it. If he subsequently breaks it, he must make the expiation prescribed for an oath.
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A vow to commit a sin or to omit an obligatory act. He must deliberately break such a vow, on account of the Prophet’s words, “Whoever vows to disobey Allah must not disobey Him,” and he must then perform the expiation for an oath.
Al-Muqniʿ states that a vow regarding a merely permissible act, or a sinful vow, might not be considered binding at all and would therefore require no expiation. Al-Muwaffaq affirmed this view in al-ʿUmda, and it is also the position of Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī, citing the Prophet’s statement, “There is no vow in disobedience to Allah, nor concerning what a person does not own” (Muslim 1641), and his saying, “No vow counts except one made for the sake of Allah’s Face” (Abū Dāwūd 2190).
Imām Mālik said, “I have never heard that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered someone who vowed to commit a sin or abandon an act of obedience to make an expiation.”
Al-Wazīr (Ibn Hubayrah) reported this as the opinion of the three Imams, and Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn (Ibn Taymiyyah) adopted it as well.
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A vow that a person cannot reasonably carry out and that imposes excessive hardship—whether a perpetual bodily act of worship or ruinous financial outlay. In this case he must offer the expiation for an oath. Al-Bayhaqī narrates from ʿĀ’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that, when a man pledged all his wealth as charity for the poor, she ruled: “The expiation for an oath.”