Is it permissible to offer expiation for a vow instead of fulfilling an oath to abstain from fasting for three days and seeking forgiveness ten thousand times, a vow made by one whose backbiting and slips of the tongue have become frequent?

Excessive talking about matters that do not concern one often leads to backbiting (gheeba), tale-bearing (nameema), and lying. The Prophet (peace be upon him) guided us to either speak good or remain silent. Backbiting is one of the most dangerous prohibitions of the tongue, and it is more perilous to people and consumes good deeds. Allah has likened it to eating the flesh of one's dead brother.

As for the vow mentioned, it is a vow of obstinacy (nadhr lajaj), and its maker has the choice between fulfilling it or offering an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yameen). The expiation for an oath is feeding ten poor people, or clothing them, or freeing a slave. If one cannot find [these], then fasting for three days. There is no requirement for consecutive fasting of the three days if that was not specified in the wording of the vow.