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Fatwa CenterCelebrating a conditional vow
Question
First of all I would like to say that may Allah reward all of you for maintaining this site. I am sure that there are numerous other people, like me, who benefit from this site. I come from a culture that is full of innovations and I mostly confront my elders in the best manner to address things that are not approved in Shariah. This evening my wife was invited in a ladies gathering. When she came back she told me that this gathering, called “Vow” , was in response to this lady’s (the host) wish being granted, so she made a feast. After some research I found out that this practice is more widespread than I thought it was. It is like this: a person says or makes a wish that if so and so happens then he/she will make a sacrifice, or pay the poor, or invite people, etc. My question is: Is this practice Haram or Halal in Shariah and or taking part in it?
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.
The preponderant opinion of the scholars 
is that it is disliked to condition a vow upon the achievement of a given matter.
It is confirmed that the Prophet forbade this as he said: "It does not repel anything but it only causes the mean person to spend his money ." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
In another narration: "The vow does not advance anything or delay anything."
In addition to this, the vow burdens the person with additional obligations which he might not be able to fulfill, or might be negligent in fulfilling them.
However, if a person conditions the vow upon the realization of a particular matter, then if this matter happens, he/she has to fulfill the vow if it is a form of obedience to Allaah. 'Aa'ishah 
narrated that the Prophet said: "Whoever has made a vow to obey Allaah, he should comply with it, and whoever has made a vow to disobey Allaah, he should not do so." [Al-Bukhari]
To sum up, it is disliked to make a vow, but if the condition on which one had conditioned the vow happens, he should comply with it provided it is an act of obedience to Allaah.
And there is no harm to attend such occasions if they do not involve any Haram.
Finally, it is permissible to participate in the occasions which you mentioned in the question if it does not call to what is forbidden or leads to it, and there is no doubt that feeding friends, relatives and poor people is an act that brings someone closer to Allaah, so one has to fulfill such a vow.
Allaah Knows best.
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