Salam, I would like to start by praying that may Allah grant all the people involved in this website Paradise and forgive their sins, Ameen. Once I made a vow with Allah, that every time I did this specific sin, I would give £100 in charity, as a way to stop myself from doing this sin. But now, I have done this sin over 200 times, and I cannot afford that much money. So I am thinking of fasting, as expiation for this broken vow. My question is how long do I have to fast? Do I have to do it as many times as I did the sin, or does me not giving money in charity count as one broken vow? Please help me and pray for me that Allah removes evil and wicked thoughts from my mind. JazakAllah Khair, Wasalaam

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 is His slave and Messenger.

First of all, it should be mentioned that if a vow is intended to urge one’s self to do something, or to refrain from doing something, then the scholars call this kind of vow the vow of Lajaaj (anger), but they differed about what a person who makes such a vow is obliged to do if he breaks it. They have three opinions about this: 1- he is obliged to expiate for breaking the oath, 2- he is obliged to fulfill the vow that he made, 3- he has a choice between expiating for his oath or fulfilling it; and this last opinion is the preponderant opinion in our view.

Therefore, we would say to you, dear brother, that the vow that you made is a vow of Lajaaj (anger), and you have the choice either to fulfill it or to expiate for it. The expiation for breaking a vow is explained in Fatwa 102811.

Since you mentioned in your oath ‘every time’, then you should expiate for breaking the oath each time you break it, because the expression ‘every time’ means a repetition. However, if you are unable to expiate all the oaths that you made, then you will remain liable for them and you should expiate for them whenever you are able to do so.

Finally, you should fear Allaah by refraining from committing sins as they have bad consequences on its doer; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 82598.

Allaah Knows best.