What is the ruling on someone who swore an oath six times not to interrupt ablution (wudu) or ritual bath (ghusl), but interrupted it each time due to obsessive whispering (waswasah)? And is he excused for the two times when the waswasah was severe? And is it considered a breach of an oath if he swore not to interrupt ablution except if it is invalidated or due to nosebleed (ru'af), then he experienced a nosebleed and interrupted the ablution and resumed it after the bleeding stopped, while he does not know whether he intended not to re-perform that specific ablution or ablution for that prayer? And is it permissible to delay performing the expiation (kaffarah) until summer due to not possessing sufficient money?
We ask Allah to grant you well-being from obsessive whispers (waswas), and you must turn away from them and seek Allah’s help. Regarding the oaths you have sworn: whatever you intended by your own choice and then broke by your own choice, for that you owe an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin). But anything you were not certain about, or were overcome by due to the waswas, nothing is binding upon you for that, because the default state is the blamelessness of one’s conscience. If expiation is binding upon you, do not delay it due to lack of money if you are able to fast for three days, as this is one of the options for expiation, and it must be fulfilled immediately.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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