Performing a vowed umrah before the vow's condition is met

A question from someone who vowed an umrah if he received money owed to him and then performed it before receiving the money, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that the safer course is to wait for the condition, and that someone who acted early and cannot repeat the act is discharged on the Hanbali view. ¹

The questioner said he vowed to perform umrah if he received a sum owed to him by a certain party, then performed umrah with the intention of fulfilling the vow before receiving the money; he asked whether he must repeat it once the condition is met. ¹

The Department answered that a vow is a commitment to an act of devotion the sharia does not require, which must be fulfilled once made, and that scholars differ on fulfilling a conditional vow before its condition is met. ¹ The Shafi'is allow a financial vow to be fulfilled early but not a bodily one, and count hajj and umrah as bodily, quoting Zakariyya al-Ansari's Asna al-Matalib, and Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni's Nihayat al-Matlab that proxy hajj is a concession for necessity. ¹ The Hanafis hold that what is done before the condition is voluntary and must be repeated, quoting al-Shurunbulali's Maraqi al-Falah, while the Hanbalis allow early fulfilment, quoting al-Buhuti's Kashshaf al-Qina'. ¹ It concluded that the safer course is for the person to wait until the condition is met, so that he is discharged by consensus, but if he has already performed the vowed act and cannot repeat it, he may be judged discharged on the Hanbali view. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3845, dated 21 December 2023. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.