I went through a problem and decided that if Allah Almighty guided me to solve it, I would perform ‘Umrah on the Prophet's birthday. However, as a part of solving my problem, I was obliged to buy an apartment. Therefore, I have to pay great installments and am suffering from a financial crisis. Can I delay performing ‘Umrah until I finish paying the installments and solve the financial crisis, Allah willing, or do I have to fulfill the vow on time?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.

If one vowed to perform an act of worship in a specific time and made his vow conditional on the occurrence of a certain matter and that matter actually took place, then he must fulfill his vow at the exact time that he specified because the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “If one vows to obey Allaah Almighty, then he should obey Him...” [Al-Bukhari] Therefore, the questioner has to perform ‘Umrah at the exact time that he specified in his vow. This applies if he vowed to perform ‘Umrah at a specific time. Nevertheless, if he just vowed to perform ‘Umrah in general or he vowed to do so at an unspecified time, like by saying: 'I would do such-and-such in the month of Shawwal', for example, but he did not (specifically) mean that of the current year, then he may delay performing ‘Umrah after paying the installments. Finally, we would like to draw your attention to two matters:

Firstly: There are various opinions concerning the day on which the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was born. It has been said that he was born on the second day of Rabee‘ Al-Awwal, and it has been said that it was on the eighth day of Rabee‘ Al-Awwal. It has also been said that he was born on the tenth of Rabee‘ Al-Awwal. Others say that he was born on the twelfth of Rabee‘ Al-Awwal. This is the most famous opinion. Az-Zubayr ibn Bakkar said, "He was born in Ramadan." The day and the month in which the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was born have not been proven by an authentic text attributed to him.

Secondly: Based on the opinion that he was born on the twelfth of Rabee‘ Al-Awal, as per the famous opinion on this issue, performing ‘Umrah on that day has no privilege over performing it on other days.

Allaah Knows best.