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Sahih al-Bukhari 6680 (Book 83, Hadith 57) #6424
Dissolving Oaths for Better Options

SUMMARY: Allah's Messenger ﷺ taught that if one takes an oath and later finds something better, they should do the better thing and give expiation for the dissolution of their oath.

Narrated Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari: I went along with some men from the Ash-ariyin to Allah's Messenger and it happened that I met him while he was in an angry mood. We asked him to provide us with mounts, but he swore that he would not give us any. Later on he said, "By Allah, Allah willing, if ever I take an oath (to do something) and later on I find something else better than the first, then I do the better one and give expiation for the dissolution of my oath".
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مَعْمَرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَارِثِ، حَدَّثَنَا أَيُّوبُ، عَنِ الْقَاسِمِ، عَنْ زَهْدَمٍ، قَالَ كُنَّا عِنْدَ أَبِي مُوسَى الأَشْعَرِيِّ قَالَ أَتَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ فِي نَفَرٍ مِنَ الأَشْعَرِيِّينَ، فَوَافَقْتُهُ وَهْوَ غَضْبَانُ فَاسْتَحْمَلْنَاهُ، فَحَلَفَ أَنْ لاَ يَحْمِلَنَا ثُمَّ قَالَ ‏ "‏ وَاللَّهِ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لاَ أَحْلِفُ عَلَى يَمِينٍ فَأَرَى غَيْرَهَا خَيْرًا مِنْهَا، إِلاَّ أَتَيْتُ الَّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ وَتَحَلَّلْتُهَا

TOPICS
oath  *  expiation  *  dissolution

QUICK LESSONS:
Try your best to keep your promises; Do what's best/better; Give expiations when needed
EXPLANATIONS:
This hadith is about how to handle taking an oath. It teaches us that if we take an oath to do something, but then find something else that is better than what we promised, then it is okay to do the better thing instead and make up for breaking our promise by giving expiation. This means that we should try our best to keep our promises, but if there is a situation where doing something else would be more beneficial or helpful than what was promised, then it is okay to break the promise as long as we make up for it in some way. We can learn from this hadith that even though keeping promises is important, sometimes it may be necessary to break them in order to do what’s best.

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