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Fatwa CenterVowed to offer something in a certain place seeking closeness to Allaah, but became unable to go there
Question
I made a vow to Allah, the Exalted, that I would offer something (in charity) in a certain place, but I was not able to go there. Is it permissible for me to offer the vowed object in another place? If I am able to go there in the future, should I re-offer the vowed object?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
If you made a vow to offer something as an act that brings you closer to Allaah, the Exalted, such as giving charity to the people of a specific town or giving them the meat of a slaughtered animal, then such a vow is valid and binding, and it is incumbent on you to deliver on it. If you made a vow to slaughter an animal in a certain town and did not think about offering its meat in charity, then you are not required to fulfill such a vow. This is because slaughtering an animal only (without giving its meat in charity) is a permissible act of worship and not one that draws the person closer to Allaah. Other scholars believed that in such a case it is incumbent on the vow-maker to slaughter the vowed animal in that particular place as he had vowed. Thaabit ibn Adh-Dhahhak 
reported that, "A man made a vow during the lifetime of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, to slaughter a camel at Buwanah …"
Imaam An-Nawawi 
said:
"If one makes a vow to offer something in charity; an article of clothing, food, money, slaves, a house, a tree, or anything else, then it is incumbent on him to offer that vowed object. It is impermissible for him to abstain from offering the vowed-object or offer anything else instead. If he vows to offer that particular thing in a specific place and needs money to transfer the vowed object to that place, then he should pay the costs of transportation from his own money and not from the money that he has vowed to offer. If he vows to offer unmovable objects in charity to a certain place, such as a house, a land, a grindstone, or the like, then he is obliged to sell it and transfer its price to the specific place as he has vowed. ‘Aa’ishah 
narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "Whoever vowed to obey Allaah, the Exalted, must do so." [Al-Majmoo‘]
Hence, if your intention was to slaughter an animal and distribute its meat in a particular place as a righteous act, seeking thereby to draw closer to Allaah, the Exalted, but you became unable to fulfill that vow, then you remain liable to fulfill it whenever it is possible. In other words, your liability is not cleared of this vow, and you are still obliged to deliver on it whenever that is possible.
Allaah knows best.
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