Thabit b. ad-Dahhak said that in the time of God's Messenger a man took a vow to slaughter camels at Buwana and came and told him. God’s Messenger asked whether the place contained any idol worshipped in pre-Islamic times and was told that it did not. He asked whether any pre-Islamic festival was observed there and was told that no such thing was observed. He then said to the man, “Fulfil your vow, for a vow to do an act of disobedience to God must not be fulfilled, neither must one to do something over which a human being has no control.”
Ibn ‘Abbas reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone takes a vow but does not name it, its atonement is the same as that for an oath; if anyone takes a vow to do an act of disobedience, its atonement is the same as that for an oath; if anyone takes a vow he is unable to fulfil, its atonement is the same as that for an oath; but if anyone takes a vow he is able to fulfil, he must do so.”
Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah transmitted it, but some traced it no farther back than Ibn ‘Abbas.
‘Amr b. Shu'aib, on his father’s authority, said that his grandfather told of a woman who said, “Messenger of God, I have taken a vow to play the tambourine over you,” to which he replied, “Fulfil your vow.”
Abu Dawud transmitted it.
Razin added that she said, “And I have taken a vow to perform a sacrifice in such and such a place,” a place in which people had performed sacrifices in pre-Islamic times. He asked whether that place contained any idol worshipped in pre-Islamic times, and she replied that it did not. He asked whether any pre-Islamic festival was observed there, and she replied that none was. He then said, “Fulfil your vow.”
