It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Abd al-Rahman! Never ask for leadership. If you ask for it and it is given to you, you will be left to it (on your own); and if it comes to you without asking, you will be helped. And when you swear an oath about something and something else is better than it, then do the better thing and give the expiation for your oath."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19841
Zahdam al-Jarmi says: I came to Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was eating chicken. He said: Come close and eat. I said: I have sworn that I will not eat it. He said: Eat; I will soon tell you about this oath of yours. He says: So I came close and ate. He said: We came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a group of the Ash'aris, asking him for mounts, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By Allah! I will not give you mounts, nor do I have any." We stayed on, and then camels with high humps arrived, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) provided us with mounts. We had gone only a little way when we thought: We have made the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forget his oath; by Allah! we will not prosper. So we came back to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "What has brought you back?" They said: O Prophet of Allah! You had sworn that you would not give us mounts; we feared that we would not be blessed in them, and that we may have made you forget your oath. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I have not forgotten my oath; but whoever swears an oath and something else is better than it, let him do that and give the expiation for his oath."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19842
Zahdam narrates from Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him): We came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asking for mounts. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By Allah! I will not give you mounts, nor do I have any mount with which to provide you." But when we went back, he (peace and blessings be upon him) gave us three camels. I said: You (peace and blessings be upon him) had sworn that you would not give us mounts, yet you (peace and blessings be upon him) then gave us mounts. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I did not give you mounts; rather, Allah gave you mounts. By Allah! whenever I swear an oath and see something else to be better, I do the better thing."
The Shaykh said: Al-Taymi fell short in this narration and did not transmit the expiation in it.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19844
Zahdam al-Jarmi narrates from Sayyiduna Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "In sha' Allah (if Allah wills), whenever I swear an oath and then something else is better than it, I do that and give the expiation for my oath."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19845
Abu Burdah, the son of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him), narrates from his father that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whenever I swear an oath about something and something else is better, I give the expiation for my oath and do the better thing."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19846
Abu Hazim narrates from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man stayed late with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then he returned to his home and found that his children had fallen asleep. His wife presented food, and he swore, because of his children, that he would not eat. But later he ate. Then they mentioned this to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever swears an oath and something else is better than it, let him do it and give the expiation for his oath."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19847
Tamim bin Tarafah (may Allah have mercy on him) says: A man came to Sayyiduna Adi bin Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him) and asked him for maintenance or for the price of a servant. Sayyiduna Adi bin Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I have only a coat of mail or a helmet, but I will write to my family and they will give it to you. The narrator says: The man was not pleased, so Sayyiduna Adi bin Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him) became angry and swore that he would not give him anything. Later the man became content, and Sayyiduna Adi bin Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Had I not heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever swears an oath and then sees something better and more God-fearing than it, let him leave it for the sake of taqwa (God-consciousness)," I would not have broken my oath.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19848
Adi bin Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Whoever swears an oath and something else is better than it, let him do the better thing and leave it (the oath)."
(b) Mu'adh al-Anbari (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from Shu'bah: "Let him abandon his oath."
(c) Adi (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When one of you swears an oath and then sees something better than it, let him give the expiation for his oath and do the better thing."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19849
Simak bin Harb narrated it from Tamim bin Tarafah (may Allah have mercy on him); in one of his two narrations he mentioned the expiation, and in the other he did not mention it.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19850
Amr bin Murrah heard from Abdullah bin Amr, the freed slave of Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), that Adi (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked (for something) and he swore that he would not give, but later he gave. Then he said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whoever swears an oath and then sees something better than it, let him give the expiation for his oath and do the better thing."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19851
Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By Allah! For one of you to persist in his oath concerning his family is more sinful for him in the sight of Allah than to give its expiation which Allah has made obligatory."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19852
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever stubbornly persists in an oath concerning his family is a great sinner; even the expiation does not suffice for it."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19853
Yahya bin Salih al-Wuhazi (may Allah have mercy on him) mentions with his chain: "When a man stubbornly persists in an oath concerning his family, he is greater in sin."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19854
Ali bin Abi Talhah narrates from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) concerning the saying of Allah Almighty, "Do not make Allah the target of your oaths" [Surah al-Baqarah: 224], that he said: Do not make Allah the target of your oaths so that you then refrain from doing good; rather, give the expiation for your oath and do the good deed.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19855
Qatadah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from al-Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) concerning the saying of Allah Almighty, "Do not make Allah the target of your oaths" [Surah al-Baqarah: 224], that he said: Do not swear by Allah; let none of you say: By Allah! I will not maintain ties of kinship, I will not set things right, I will not give charity from my wealth; (rather, in such a case) let him end his oath and give the expiation.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الأيمان / 19856