hold that making any vow is unlawful, for it burdens a person with something he was under no obligation to undertake in the first place. How many people have vowed and then failed to fulfill their pledge; how many have vowed and wearied themselves in trying to fulfill it; how many have vowed and ended up standing at scholars’ doors, begging for a concession! The essential point is that the Prophet ﷺ forbade vows, and Muslim scholars have differed over that prohibition: some take it to mean outright unlawfulness, while others regard it as indicating mere reprehensibility.

Nonetheless, if someone does vow to obey Allah, that obedience becomes strictly binding. Should he say, “I am bound by a vow to Allah to fast every Monday,” the fast becomes obligatory, and he may not omit it except for a valid excuse such as illness. If he vows to perform two units of the mid-morning (duha) prayer every day, those two rakʿahs become incumbent upon him, and so forth. Previously he was free: if he wished, he could fast or refrain; he could pray or leave it—anything beyond Allah’s prescribed obligations lies within a person’s discretion. Yet he goes and imposes restrictions upon himself.

What is even more astonishing is that some people—may Allah guide them and us—when confronted by illness say, “I vow to Allah that if He cures me, I will do such-and-such.” Glory be to Allah! Will Allah only heal you if you attach a condition? The Prophet ﷺ addressed this, saying, “A vow does not repel destiny; if Allah decrees a matter, it will come to pass whether you vow or not, and a vow brings no good.” How true were his words: there is no good in vows. Know as well that if you set a condition in your vow and then, when the condition is met, you fail to fulfill it, then you