2732. Just as in a vow, a formal expression must also be pronounced for a pledge. The pledge should also not be with respect to an act that is not preferred. However, to claim that a preferred act is consequential—as a great number of renowned scholars have stated—is problematic.
2733. If a person does not act in accordance to his pledge, his must pay a kaff¡rah. That is, he must free a slave, or satiate sixty poor people, or fast for two consecutive months.
2734. If a person takes an oath to perform an act or refrain from one, such as taking an oath to fast or to stop smoking, then if he intentionally acts contrary to it, he will have to pay a kaff¡rah. That is, he will either have to free a slave, or satiate ten poor people, or clothe them. If he is unable to do any of these, he must fast for three consecutive days.
2735. The act of taking an oath must fulfill the following conditions:
1. The person taking the oath must be b¡ligh and sane, and should take the oath consciously and volitionally. Therefore, the act of taking an oath by a minor, an insane person, an intoxicated person, or a person who has been compelled is not valid. The same will apply if a person unconsciously takes an oath in a moment of anger. The oath taken by a bankrupt or feeble-minded person is not valid in the event that it necessitates the disposal of their property.
2. The act for which one takes an oath should not be a makruh or a forbidden act. Similarly, the act that one takes an oath to refrain from should not be an obligatory or recommended act. To claim the obligation of an act which is the subject of an oath to perform or refrain from a canonically neutral act which does not possess any worldly or religious benefit is problematic.
3. A person should take the oath by one of the names of the Lord that is exclusively reserved for His Holy Essence, such as God or Allah. Similarly, if a person takes an oath by a name that is also used to refer to someone other than God, but it is so frequently used to refer to God that whenever it is employed, the Holy Essence of the Lord is evoked in the mind, such as taking an oath by the name the Creator or the Sustainer, it too will be valid. In fact, if he takes an oath using a name that is used to refer to God and someone other than Him, but intends to refer to God, obligatory precaution dictates that he act according to that oath.
4. He should pronounce the oath verbally. Hence, if he writes it down or intends it in his heart, it will not be valid. However, if a person who is unable to speak takes an oath by hand signing, it will be valid.
5. He should be capable of fulfilling the oath. If he is able to perform it upon taking the oath, but is rendered incapable later on, his oath will be void from the moment he became incapable of fulfilling it. The same applies if fulfilling the oath, vow or pledge entails such hardship, that it is not possible to bear it.
2736. If a father prevents his son from taking an oath, or a husband prevents his wife from taking an oath, their oaths will not be valid.
2737. If a son takes an oath without the permission of his father, or a wife without the permission of her husband, the father or the husband can cancel their oath. In fact, the apparent precept is that their oath without the permission of the father or the husband is not valid.
2738. If a person fails to fulfill his oath owing to compulsion or forgetfulness, no kaff¡rah will be due on him. The same applies if a person is compelled to not fulfill his oath.
The oath by a person who suffers from uncertainty.
2739. A person who takes an oath that his words are true, then if his words are indeed true, the act of taking the oath is makruh. However, if his words are false, it is forbidden, and amounts to one of the major sins. However, if he takes a false oath to save himself or another Muslim from an oppressor, it is not problematic; rather, at times it becomes obligatory to do so. However, if he is able to express it ambiguously ({^ While taking the oath, he should intend it in such a manner, that it does not amount to a lie^})., the obligatory precaution is that he should do so. For example, if an oppressor wishes to torment an individual, and asks a person if he has seen the individual, and he had seen him an hour ago, he should say that I have not seen him, and he should intend that he had not seen him since five minutes ago.
2740. If a person dedicates an item, neither he nor others may gift or sell the item, nor can anyone inherit it. However in some cases, which have been mentioned in articles 2122 and 2123, there is no problem in selling it.
2741. It is not necessary for the formal expression of dedication to be pronounced in Arabic; rather, if he—for example—states, “I have dedicated my house,” it will suffice. Similarly, a dedication can also be realized by an act. For example, a person may place a carpet in a mosque with the intention of dedicating it to the mosque, or construct a structure with the intention of making it a mosque.
In the case of public dedications, such as mosques, schools or objects which are dedicated for use by the poor or the sayyids, the acceptance by another party is not consequential to the validity of the dedication. In fact, even in the case of specific dedications, such as dedications for one’s children, the stronger view is that an acceptance is not consequential, although it is more precautious.
2742. If a person specifies a property for dedication, but regrets his intention before forming the dedication, or passes away before doing so, the dedication is not realized.
2743. If a person dedicates a property then, from the moment of forming the dedication, he must dedicate it forever. If—for example—he states that the property should be dedicated after his death, the dedication will not be valid since it was not a dedication from the moment he pronounced the formal expression to the time of his death. Similarly, if he states that it should be dedicated for a period of ten days, or states that it should be dedicated for ten years followed by five years of not being dedicated, and then dedicated once again, the dedication (in both the examples) will not be valid.
2744. A specific dedication is only valid in the case where the dedicated property is placed at the discretion of the individual for whom it has been dedicated, his deputy or his guardian. However, if someone dedicates a property for his minor children, and acquires and claims possession of it on their behalf, it will be valid.
2745. In the case of public dedications, such as mosques, schools and similar structures, acquisition by another party is not consequential to its validity, although it is more precautious. The acquisition is realized in the case of a mosque, for example, by someone praying in it, and in the case of a cemetery, by burying someone in it.
2746. The person who dedicates the property should be b¡ligh. The validity of a dedication by a discerning child, who has been granted permission from his guardian, in the event that there is a benefit in it, is not farfetched. He must also be sane and have the intention of dedicating it. He must also not be compelled to it, and should be able to dispose of his property according to the shari’a. Therefore, if a feeble-minded person, or a person who has been interdicted by the ¦¡kim al-shar’iyy from the disposing of his property, dedicates a property, it will not be sanctioned, unless the guardian or the creditors permit it.
2747. If a property is dedicated to a child that is still in the womb of its mother, to claim its validity is problematic. However, if a thing is dedicated for persons who are currently present, and after them for those who will later be born into this world, the dedication will be valid even if the latter are not yet in the wombs of their mothers. For example, a person may dedicate something for his children, and after them for his grandchildren, so that every generation would make use of it after the previous generation.
2748. If a person dedicates something to himself, such as dedicating a store to himself so that its profits would be used to maintain his grave after his death, it is not valid. However, if he dedicates a property for the poor, and later he himself becomes poor, he may partake from the profits of the dedication.
2749. If a person appoints a care-taker for the thing that he has dedicated, the authority over the dedication will rest with the one that the dedicator has appointed. However, if he does not appoint anyone, then if he has dedicated it for specific individuals, such as his children, and they are b¡ligh, the authority will lie with them. However, if they are not b¡ligh, the authority will belong to their guardian.
However, with respect to the uses that pertain to the interests of the dedication and the interests of subsequent generations, the permission of the ¦¡kim al-shar’iyy is consequential in its validity.
2750. If a person dedicates a property for the poor or the sayyids, or dedicates it with the intention that its profits would be used for charitable causes, then in the event that he does appoint a care-taker for the property, the authority over it will lie with the ¦¡kim al-shar’iyy.
2751. If a person dedicates a property for specific individuals, such as his own children, so that each generation would make use of it after the previous one, then if the care-taker rents it out, and dies thereafter, the rent will not be rendered void (upon his death).
However, if it has no care-taker, and a generation for which the property was dedicated, rent it out, and then pass away within the rental period, if the subsequent generation does not ratify the agreement, it will be rendered void. In the event that the renter has paid the rent for the entire rental period, he may claim the rent for the period commencing with the death to the end of the rental period from their property.
2752. If the dedicated property gets destroyed, it does not cease to be a dedication, unless the referent of the dedication is a subject that upon its dissolution, there remains no referent for the dedication. For example, a person dedicates a house for the use of its residents, for as long as the house retains its structure. In this case, upon its dissolution, the subject of the dedication becomes void and returns to the dedicator, or, in his absence, to his heirs.
2753. If a part of a property has been dedicated in an abstractly defined manner, and a part of it has not been dedicated, then the care-taker—given that it has one—and the owner of the undedicated part may partition the property under the supervision of experts. In the event that it does not have a specific caretaker, the ¦¡kim al-shar’iyy and the owner will proceed to partition it.
2754. If the caretaker of a dedication makes fraudulent use of the dedication, the ¦¡kim al-shar’iyy may supplement him with a trustworthy individual to prevent any fraudulent use of the dedication. In the event that it is not possible, he may appoint a trustworthy caretaker in place of the original caretaker.
2755. A carpet that has been dedicated for a religious hall may not be taken to a mosque to be used for prayers, even if the mosque is situated close to the religious hall.
2756. If a property is dedicated for the reconstruction of a mosque, but the mosque does not require any reconstruction, and neither is it expected that it will, in a manner that retaining the profits of that property for the reconstruction would not be deemed sensible by rational persons, then to claim the validity of such a dedication is problematic.
2757. If a person dedicates a property so that its profits are used for the reconstruction of a mosque, and to be given to the imam of the congregation and the individual who proclaims the adh¡n at the mosque, then, if they know or are confident of how much he has apportioned for each of these uses, they must utilize it in the same manner. However, if they do not know or are not confident of it, then they must first reconstruct the mosque. If something remains thereafter, the obligatory precaution is that the imam of the congregation and the one who proclaims the adh¡n should reach a compromise settlement over its distribution.
2758. The last will is a request by a person for certain tasks to be performed for him after his death, or a statement that after his death part of his property becomes the property of someone else, or that ownership of his property be granted to someone else, or that it be dedicated or used for charitable and good causes. It (the last will) is also inclusive of his
2759. If a person, who is unable to speak, conveys his intentions by hand signing, he may make a will for any task. In fact, even if a person who is able to speak, conveys his will by hand signing in a manner that conveys his intention, it too will be valid.
2760. If a written statement is located with the signature or stamp of the deceased, then in the event that it conveys his intention, and it is known that it was written to convey his last will, they must act according to its dictates.
2761. The person making the will must be sane, and must not have been compelled to it. The last will of a ten year old child, given that he is a discerning child, and his will is acceptable by rational people, is sanctioned with respect to one-third of his wealth for his relatives and for charitable causes. Obligatory precaution dictates that one should act according to the last will of a seven year old discerning boy, with respect to a small amount of his wealth in a use that is appropriate. The last will of a feeble-minded person in cases which necessitate the disposal of his wealth is not sanctioned.
