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Is expiation obligatory for one who swore an oath upon his children to do something, then they did not comply?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If you swear an intentional oath to your children or others that they should do something or refrain from it, and they disobey you; or if you swear to do something or refrain from it, then you see that the benefit lies in doing the opposite, then you must offer expiation for breaking an oath (kaffarat yamin). The expiation for an oath is to feed ten poor persons, or clothe them, or free a slave. If you cannot find any of these, then you must fast for three days, based on the words of Allah Almighty: (Allah will not impose blame upon you for what is unintentional in your oaths, but He will impose blame upon you for what you intended in [breaking] your oaths. The expiation for this is feeding ten poor people from the average of that which you feed your [own] families, or clothing them, or freeing a slave. But whoever finds none – then a fast of three days. That is the expiation for your oaths when you have sworn. And guard your oaths.) Al-Ma'idah/89, and based on the words of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: (If you take an oath, then see that something else is better than it, then expiate for your oath and do that which is better.)

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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