Is a vow concluded by the saying: "A vow to Allah upon me to fast my whole life" with the intention of informing about the problem of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and not with the intention of making the vow itself, knowing that there is a previous fatwa stating that a vow is concluded merely by uttering it, even if there was no intention?
Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 2026
A vow is not formed by a thought within oneself. And your informing your mother about what occurred to you inwardly is not a vow because you did not intend thereby to create a vow, but rather you intended to inform about what you thought to yourself. Uttering a vow does not require intention if the intent is to create the vow, even jokingly. However, one who informs about what he thought to himself is not considered to have made a vow. If you had intended to create a vow by your words to your mother, then you are obliged to fulfill it. And one must turn away from obsessive thoughts and not pay attention to them.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/95671
Where this answer came from
- Source platform
- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 95671
- 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.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy