العروة الوثقى الزيدية - موقع إسلامي يهدف لتعريف الزائر بفكر وتراث المسلمين الزيدية

The Question

Question: A woman vowed ten thousand riyals for some of her relatives, stipulating that this vow is to be carried out at the time of her death. Is it valid to bring this vow forward [i.e. to fulfill it before that time]? And if she actually did so, believing that it was permissible, is it valid?

The Answer

Answer – and Allah is the One who grants success: What I see is that it is permissible to bring such a vow forward, by analogy with the permissibility of bringing forward the zakāt of gold, silver, and trade-goods. The common element between them is the presence of the cause of obligation: in the original case, the existence of the wealth in one’s ownership; and in the subsidiary case, the occurrence of the vow. The obligation (in principle) exists in both the original and the subsidiary; nothing remains except the condition for the obligation’s effect, which is the arrival of the time.
On the basis of what we have mentioned, it is valid to bring forward a suspended vow before its time arrives. This is the position of the madhhab, as in al-Azhār and its commentary, where it says: “Except in charity and the like, in which case bringing it forward suffices…” etc.

Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.2