ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Brief of Islamic Law Vow and Covenant (nadhr and `ahd) Vow means malking it obligatory upon oneself to do some good act, or to refrain from doing an act which it is better not to do, for the sake of, or for the pleasure of Allah. While making a vow, a formule declaration has to be pronounced, thought is not necessary to be in Arabic.

If a person says, 'When the patient recovers from his ailment, it will be obligatory upon me to pay $10 to a poor man, for the sake of Allah, his vow will be in order. And if one says,’ I vow to do so and so for the sake of Allah', he should, as an boligatory precaution, do it. But if a person does not utter the name of God, and says only, 'I vow', or utters one of the names of the holy prophet or Imams, the vow will not be in order.

If the vow is in order, and the person under the vow does not perform it intentionally, he has committed sin and should pay kaffarah, which is like Kaffarah of violation of an oath as will be explained later. If a husband disallows his wife to make a vow, her vow will not be valid, providing that vow in any way violates the rights of the husband, even if it is made before the marriage contract.

Similarly, if a wife makes a vow to pay from her wealth, without her husband's permission, she commits an act which is not free from Ishkal, except when the vow is for A*ajj, Zakat, Sadaqah or for doing a good turn to her parents, or her blood relations. If a woman makes a vow with the permission of her husband, he cannot apogate her vow, or restrain her from fulfiling her vow.

If a child (son or daughter) makes a vow, with or without the permission of his/her father, he/she should fulfil his/her vow. However, if his/her father or mother disallows him/her to fulfil the vow, his/her vow is void, provided that the prohibition is due to their compassion and to oppose them will result in their annoyance. A person can make a vow only for an act which is possible for him to fulfil.

If, for example, a person is not capable of travelling up to Karbala on foot, and he makes a vow that he will go there on foot, his vow will not be in order.