Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
If a person swears many oaths and breaks
them, and does not offer expiation, one of two scenarios must apply.
1 – The vows were all to do with one
thing, such as saying, “By Allah, I will not smoke,” then he breaks the oath
and does not offer expiation for that. Then he swears again that he will not
smoke, then he breaks the oath… in this case one expiation is required.
2 – The oaths have to do with several
actions, such as saying, “By Allah, I will not drink; by Allah, I will not
wear (certain clothes); by Allah, I will not go to such and such a place,”
then he breaks all those oaths. Does he have to offer one expiation or as
many expiations as the oaths he swore and broke? There is a difference of
opinion among the fuqaha’ (jurists) concerning this matter. The majority are
of the view that he must offer several expiations, but the Hanbalis say that
he only has to offer one expiation.
The more correct view is that of the
majority, because these were oaths to do several things, and breaking one of
them does not mean that another is broken, they are not interconnected.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on
him) was asked: I am a young man and I swore to Allah more than three times
that I would repent from a haram (unlawful) action. My question is: do I
have to offer one expiation or three? And what is my expiation?
He replied: You have to offer one
expiation, which is feeding or clothing ten poor persons, or freeing a
slave. Whoever cannot do that must fast for three days, because Allah, may
He be glorified, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Allah will not punish you for what is
unintentional in your oaths, but He will punish you for your deliberate
oaths; for its expiation (a deliberate oath) feed ten Masaakeen (poor
persons), on a scale of the average of that with which you feed your own
families, or clothe them or manumit a slave. But whosoever cannot afford
(that), then he should fast for three days. That is the expiation for the
oaths when you have sworn. And protect your oaths (i.e. do not swear much).
Thus Allah makes clear to you His Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons,
signs, revelations, etc.) that you may be grateful”
[5:89]
This applies to every oath that is made to
do one thing or to refrain from one thing; if the oath is sworn repeatedly,
only one expiation is required, if he did not offer expiation the first
time. But if he offered expiation the first time, then he repeated the oath,
then he must offer another expiation if he breaks the oath. Similarly, if he
repeated it a third time and had offered expiation the second time, he must
offer a third expiation.
But if he swore oaths to do several things
or to refrain from several things, then he must offer expiation for each
one, such as if he said, “By Allah I will not speak to so and so,” and “By
Allah I will not eat food,” and “By Allah, I will not travel to such and
such a place,” and “By Allah, I will speak to so and so” and “By Allah, I
will hit him,” and so on.
What must be done is to give each poor
person half a saa’ (dry measure) of the local staple food, which is
approximately one and a half kilograms. With regard to clothing, it should
be what is sufficient for prayer, such as a thobe (robe) or a rida’ and
izaar (upper and lower garment). If he gives them dinner or breakfast, that
is sufficient, because of the general meaning of the verse quoted above. And
Allah is the source of strength.
End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa al-Shaykh
Ibn Baaz (23/145)
Secondly:
If the person asked about is suffering
from waswaas, and he swore these oaths under the influence of that waswaas,
without intending to do so or wanting to swear an oath, then he does not
have to do anything.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have
mercy on him) said: If a person is suffering from waswaas, his divorce does
not count as such if he utters the words of divorce, if it was not done
intentionally, because this utterance of divorce was caused by the waswaas
and was not intended, rather he was compelled to do it because of the
strength of the waswaas and his lack of willpower to resist it. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “There is no divorce when
one is compelled.” So the divorce does not count as such if he did not truly
intend it willingly. This is something that he was compelled to do and did
not intend or choose to do, so it does not count as a divorce. End quote
from Fataawa Islamiyyah (3/277).
If this applies to divorce, then it
applies even more so to oaths, because the issue of marriage is more serious
than the issue of oaths.
And Allah knows best.