Breaking a promise made to Allah

Q: A couple of days back I asked a question and you responded to it but I don’t understand what the answer means. Also I have a couple more doubts with respect to the question I asked. I’ll repost the question and your response for reference.

Questions

Once I was scared I was pregnant (even though I haven’t committed major zina) and after my salah while making dua I said ‘please don’t let me be pregnant Allah. Please help me and keep me from this. If I am kept from this I will not do a particular sin again’ I was making dua and I wasn’t trying to make an oath or a vow of any sort. I was just talking to Allah and telling Him I’m sorry for my mistakes. Please tell me if this would qualify as a vow or an oath?

Alhumdulillah I was saved from the calamity but I have continued to commit that sin I said I wouldn’t. So please tell me what to do and whether what I said qualifies as a vow or oath.

Your response

If you made a verbal promise to Allah Ta'ala, then this constitutes an oath. You should sincerely repent for the sin you committed and refrain from it in the future.

Query

Here you said that it qualifies as an oath. But I didn’t make an oath to or swear by, I made a promise to. So how does it become an oath?

Also, if it is an oath and it has been broken, do I need to do kaffarah?

Also, does refraining from a certain act fall under doing an act of worship?

Also, I don’t remember if I made any kind of vow or oath or promise and if I did, I don’t remember what it was. What should I do?

Also, the sin I was speaking about was zina, if I get married to the person, can we or can we not have sexual relations?

A: It qualifies as a vow, and a vow is equivalent to an oath.

An oath is making something binding on yourself which was otherwise permissible. So when you have mentioned this to Allah Ta`ala that you will do this, so this becomes an undertaking and obligation because you have mentioned it to Allah Ta`ala.

Once you are married then why should you not have relations. Even if you have taken an oath then just discharge a kaffarah for the breaking of the oath.

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

 

Answered by:

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)

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