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What is the expiation for an oath sworn by someone who vowed never to work again and not to break her oath, but then found herself in need of work?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If someone swears an oath concerning something, and then sees that what is better lies elsewhere, they should expiate their oath and do that which is better. This is based on the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "By Allah, if Allah wills, I do not swear an oath and then see something else as better than it, but that I expiate my oath and do that which is better." So, if you swore an oath not to return to work, and then swore another oath not to break the first one, then upon returning to work, you would owe two expiations: one for breaking the first oath and another for breaking the second oath. A single expiation consists of feeding ten poor people, or clothing them, or freeing a slave. If none of these is possible, then it is fasting for three days.

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

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