Can a person who has sworn on the Quran break his oath?

Dear Brother / Sister,

If a person who has sworn on the Quran breaks his oath, he has to pay kaffarah (atonement). The atonement can be done with goods or by paying the price. It can also be paid through the appointment of a proxy.

The atonement required for breaking an oath is called atonement for oath. The atonement for an oath is to feed or clothe 10 poor people for two meals a day, in the evening and in the morning.

The atonement can be food, clothing or something else in equivalence. It is not permissible to give the atonement all at once to one poor person, whether it is food or its price or clothes or its price. However, if it is difficult to find other poor people, it is permissible to give the same poor person enough food or its equivalent to feed him every day, morning and evening, or to give the same poor person one garment every day. Thus, the atonement is paid.

If one cannot afford it, fasting for three consecutive days will be enough. No obstacle should intervene in these fasts. If it is intervened, the atonement is broken and must be started over again.

If a person breaks more than one oath, he has to pay a separate atonement for each breaking of the oath.

According to Shafiis, it is not obligatory to fast consecutively for the atonement.

The first thing to do for atonements of both oaths and fasting is to free a slave. However, since slavery is no longer practiced today, we did not mention it in this article.

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