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Is the grandmother subject to an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin) because she swore not to visit her family if the mother invites her cousins' daughters, and is it permissible for the mother to invite the rest of the cousins' daughters?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Scholars differed on whether a partial fulfillment of the sworn-upon act constitutes breaking an oath (al-hanth). Some said that doing part of it breaks the oath, while others said it is not broken unless the entire act is done.

This difference of opinion applies when the swearer has no specific intention or there is no indication that he intended the whole or that partial fulfillment would break the oath.

However, if the reason for the grandmother's oath was the daughters' disobedience to their mother, then this is an indication that calling upon some of them would break the oath. Thus, she must offer an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin) if she visits you after your mother invited one of her maternal aunt's daughters.

The expiation for an oath is: feeding ten needy persons or clothing them. If one cannot find any, then fasting for three days.

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

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