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The question

Does a vow take effect if a person utters it unintentionally or without explicit intent, due to their mind being preoccupied and focused on the matter, and does the ruling on a frivolous vow apply to it?

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Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

If the words of a vow are uttered by a person suffering from obsessive thoughts (waswasa) in a state of absentmindedness and heedlessness, without true intention, then the vow is not valid. This is because intention is a condition for the validity of a vow, unlike the jester or playful person whose vow and oath are valid. The point is that speech uttered absentmindedly without understanding its meaning, or by a sleeper, or as a slip of the tongue, does not entail a ruling. Islamic law takes into account psychological impediments such as heedlessness and absentmindedness and their effect on speech. As for the Hanafis, they believe that intention is not a condition for oaths and divorce; in this regard, the intentional, the forgetful, and the absentminded are all the same.

Summary from Ftawy's records · added here

Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.

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Where this answer came from
Source platform
Ftawy
Original fatwa ID
169363
Added here
. This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
Text
Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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Read the full answer on Ftawy