CHAPTER OF VOWS · 21 – PROHIBITION OF MAKING VOWS
3287 – It was narrated from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to forbid making vows (nazr, a vow made to Allah). Then the narrators agreed: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “A vow does not bring about anything to happen. It only causes some wealth to be taken out from a miserly person.” In the narration of Musaddad, it is stated: – The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “A vow does not bring about anything to happen.” [153]
EXPLANATION
No vow can prevent any calamity that has already been decreed to befall a person. However, if a vow has been made, it must be fulfilled. There are some people who cannot give even a penny to the poor in any other way, but because of a vow, some money is taken from them.
3288 – It was narrated from Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “A vow does not bring to the son of Adam anything that I have not decreed for him in destiny. Rather, a vow only leads the son of Adam to what I have already decreed for him. Through a vow, some wealth is taken out from a miserly person. He gives, in order to fulfill his vow, wealth that he would not have given before.” [154]
EXPLANATION
This hadith is a hadith qudsi (a narration in which the Prophet conveys words from Allah), but it has been narrated as if the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) himself said it, and it has not been attributed to Allah the Exalted.