He swore on the Qur’aan that he would not go to more than one doctor, and he wants to break that oath

Question: 98654

I have been psychologically ill for 15 years. I feel that I cannot breath; I cannot sleep if I do not use a sleeping pill either. I sometimes have anxiety attacks, for which I visit many different doctors. My wife became upset because of this; so I swore by Quraan to her that I will not go to more than one doctor. Afterwards I needed to visit more than one. What is the ruling on this?.

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Firstly:

We ask Allaah to heal you and make you well, and we advise you to regularly recite dhikr and read Qur’aan, and ask Allaah and turn to Him, for all things are in His hand, may He be glorified.

For the remedy for anxiety and stress, please see question no. 21677.

Secondly:

If you swore that you would not go to more than one doctor, then you needed to go to more than one doctor, there is nothing wrong with you doing that, but you have to offer expiation for breaking an oath (kafaarat yameen), because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever swears an oath then sees that something else is better than it, let him do that and offer expiation for his oath.” Narrated by Muslim (1650).

But you should tell the doctor about your need for the medication, and you should ask him about increasing the dose for you, and you should not take such a decision by yourself, because of the harmful effects to which it may lead in the future.

Thirdly:

The one who swears by the Mus-haf intends either to swear by that which it contains of the words of Allaah, which is a binding oath for which expiation must be offered if it is broken, or he intends to swear by the paper, which is an oath sworn by something other than Allaah and it is shirk from which he must repent and resolve not to do it again, but he does not have to offer expiation if he breaks his oath, because it is a haraam oath that is not binding. Please see the answer to question no. 98194.

And Allaah knows best.

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