Ruling 2691 — Oath (Qasam)

If a person does not fulfil his oath owing to forgetfulness, necessity, or negligence, it is not obligatory for him to give kaffārah. The same applies if someone forces him not to fulfil his oath. Furthermore, if an obsessively doubtful person (muwaswis) takes an oath – for example, he says, ‘By Allah! I will engage in performing prayers now’, and due to his obsessive doubting (waswās) he does not engage in performing his prayers, in the event that his obsessive doubting was such that he did not act of his own volition when he did not fulfil his oath, kaffārah is not obligatory for him.