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What is incumbent upon a wife who swore not to fulfill her husband's request, and then did so?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The wife must expiate her oath by feeding ten needy people or clothing them. If she cannot find them, then she must fast for three days, as Allah the Almighty says: "Allah will not impose blame upon you for what is unintentional in your oaths, but He will impose blame upon you for what you intended in [breaking] your oaths. The expiation for this is feeding ten needy people from the average of that which you feed your [own] families or clothing them or freeing a slave. But whoever cannot find [or afford it] - then a fast of three days. That is the expiation for oaths when you have sworn." The wife is advised to obey her husband as long as he does not command her to commit a sin, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "If a woman prays her five [daily prayers], safeguards her chastity, and obeys her husband, she will enter Paradise from any of its gates she wishes." The wife has done well by retracting her insistence out of obedience to her husband, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Whoever takes an oath and then sees something else better than it, let him expiate his oath and do what is better."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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