Paying the expiation for breaking an oath from the husband's money

19-1-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

How can a married woman, whose husband provides for her and who has no other source of income, pay the expiation for breaking an oath? Can she feed ten needy people from her husband's money or should she fast three days? If she owns items of jewelry that are basically meant for adornment, should she sell them and pay the expiation or what should she do?

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Answer:

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.

It is impermissible for a woman to pay the expiation for breaking an oath from her husband's money unless he gives her permission to do so. If he does not give her his consent, and she can afford feeding or clothing ten needy people as expiation, she should do so, even if she had to sell some of her jewelry for that purpose. Apparently, she is required to sell some of her jewelry in order to pay the expiation for breaking her oath, especially that the expiation might not exceed the value of one gram of gold.

Moreover, if a Muslim, who is obliged to pay the expiation for breaking an oath, cannot afford to feed or clothe ten poor people or free a slave, he should fast three days as expiation for his broken oath, whether it was a man or a woman who has or has not someone to provide for himher.

 Allaah Knows best.