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Fatwa CenterMaking an Unspecified Vow and Supplicating in a Language other than Arabic
Question
Assalamu Alaikum
Kindly apologise for my bad English language
1) iam a non arab. Iam from india. I read your fatwa about dua in salah with own language is permissible.
So my question is can i make dua in salah in english? (My mother tounge is not english)
2) i read your fatwa about vow that if a person say " i vowed ", it is a unspecified vow and required expiation. So my question is if a person intend to do something in his heart and said " i vowed ". Is this also comes under the unspecified vow?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
We have already explained in many Fataawa that “it is disliked to supplicate in a language other than Arabic, but the concession is granted to those who do not know Arabic well”.
Hence, whoever is given permission to supplicate in a language other than Arabic because he is not proficient in it, then he may supplicate in the language that he is good at, whether it is his mother tongue or other.
As for the question of a vow, then a vow that has not been named becomes obligatory with the intention according to what the jurists mentioned.
The footnote of ad-Dasooqi on ash-Sharh al-Kabeer (which is one of the Maaliki books) reads when he stated:
“With regard to the indefinite vow’; that is to say, the one that is not precisely named as to what is exactly to be done…..he said:
His saying: “that is not precisely named as to what is exactly to be done”; i.e. the one for which a person has not specified what to do; i.e. the person who made the vow did not specify what to do; as regards if he has specified in the vow what to do either by uttering the words or having the intention, then whatever he has specified becomes obligatory on him.” [End of quote]
Durar al-Hukkaam, which is one of the Hanafi School of jurisprudence books, reads: “If he said: If I do such and such, then I have to fulfil the vow; therefore, if he intended to do an act of obedience for which it is valid to make a vow, then it becomes obligatory on him; if he had not intended it, then he has to expiate for breaking a vow, as the Prophet said: “Whoever makes a vow and does not state it specifically, the expiation (for such a vow) is the expiation for breaking an oath.”
For more benefit on making Du'aa’ (supplicating) and reading Quran in a language other than Arabic, please refer to Fataawa 84628, 97317, 81564, 81795, 88514, 90654, 90869, 123119, 83636, 318661 and 335503.
Allah Knows best.
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