Creating Good Habits and Removing bad Habits:

Removing Bad Habits

1. Know the Habit Loop
2. Cue, Craving, Response
3. Remove Cues for Bad Habits

• Identify the cues and learn to predict and avoid them well before they happen

3. Make it extremely hard to follow through your bad habit

• For snacking, remove junk food from your fridge

4. Replace the habit with another with same level of satisfaction

• You can not erase a habit, you can only replace it with a better one
• Identify the real reason you feel rewarded after the bad habit
• Identify the cue
• Location
• Time
• Emotional State
• Other People
• Immediately Preceding Action

5. You will most certainly relapse, but that’s okay. Keep going.
6. Keep your schedule busy
7. Knowing ALLAH SWT is with you
8. Use reserve energy elsewhere
9. You need to believe that shaytan does not have power of your life. You can even reach a point where it becomes extremely, extremely hard to intentionally sin.

• A bad friend is worse than shaytan
• A sin is a sin, major or minor… But start with fighting major sins first
• If you repeat a sin, repent and become better by creating a longer chain
• Ultimately you will leave that sin COMPLETELY
• You will reach the level of Nafs e Mutmaainna
• On the mission that you are on, it is not alright to do sins, with great knowledge and influence comes great responsibility

10. Gain Taqwa

• Watch Islamic Lectures
• Fear ALLAH that He is also seeing you
• Read the words of Surah Alaq out loud “Dont you know that ALLAH is watching you?”
• Nothing will outweigh ALLAH’S NAME
• Fear that you will die during that sin

11. Make life interesting, exciting and more rewarding so that bad habit cravings don't creep in
12. Change your environment immediately so that will power does not deplete
13. Make the urge disappear by being mindful about it and then ignoring it

• The Four Rs to stop cravings
• Having a REASON written down
• Having motivations documented to stop that habit
• Having strong research that is documented and summarized
• It needs to be a small step — do not ask for too much, start with something small, have a small penalty and repeat the process so many times that it gets hardwired
• Do not focus on multiple areas at the same time, focus on handful of tings and make them a priority
• Responsibility — be in a group that can hold you accountable and motivate you — find friends
• Accountability — Rewards and Penalties
• Make it part of your identity
• Choose words carefully — I am not an immodest man instead of “I can't control my urges”
• Have a series of reminders you Will follow when you get the trigger.
• Make a list of whys — why you're doing the habit
• Write down your whys
• Eliminate bad habit cues from your environment
• For porn, put your phone away. Find an app that restricts porn and is uninstallable
• Make the habit unattractive
• The dopamine spike comes even before completing the habit — anticipating vacation is actually more enjoyable than vacation itself
• Temptation Bundling — Attach an unattractive habit to something you despise doing — make it simultaneous
• Group Influence
• “We are continuously wondering what others think about us and continuously changing our behavior”
• Find and become part of a culture where that habit is the norm
• Highlight the Anciently Hardwired negative things associated with bad habits and note them down, replace them with positive notions in your mind
• Make the habit hard
• Increase friction
• Make it unreachable
• Make it less satisfying
• This is the most important
• What is immediately punished is avoided — remember the keyword “Immediately”
• Have visual measurements — moving marble from one jar to the next etc.
• Have a habit tracker
• Have ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNERS
• “I owe you Rs 1000 for breaking the chain, plus the respect I loose for failing to commit to what I said”
• Tell your partner what you did, don’t save your face by hiding the habit chain you broke
• Have a habit contract, sign in, and have your accountability partner hold you accountable

Adding Good Habits

• Add Cues for Good Habits
• Cue needs to be unavoidable
• Eating
• Showering
• Brushing
• Opening Smartphone
• Commute
• Cue should be connected to Habit
• If your habit is gym, the gym should be on your way back home from work
• Pick just ONE CUE, or it will take you twice as long
• Make it easy to do good habits
• For gym, find a gym nearby
• Prepare gym equipment the night before
• Wear gym clothes to sleep
• The Four Rs to create habits
• Having a REASON written down
• Having motivations documented to create that habit
• Having strong research that is documented and summarized
• Do not focus on multiple areas at the same time, focus on handful of tings and make them a priority
• Give it the initial hours of the day
• Responsibility — be in a group that can hold you accountable and motivate you — find friends
• Accountability — Rewards and Penalties
• Make it part of your identity
• Learn to love the habit
• The best cues are time and location, write down your habits as “I will do this at this time in this location”
• Have a scorecard
• Use chunking
• Choose a very powerful trigger — something that you do automatically during the day (such as brushing your teeth) , and then chain habits together. Call it one habit.
• Environment is better than Motivation — “Environment is the invisible hand that shapes behavior”
• Make cues visible around you
• Have pictures in your house as cues
• Have MotiCards around you, surrounding you
• Name of Allah on wallpaper
• Ahadith on Posters
• Have wallpapers with different messages
• Print out Posters
• One space One use — don’t work where you sleep
• Make the habit attractive
• The dopamine spike comes even before completing the habit — anticipating vacation is actually more enjoyable than vacation itself
• Temptation Bundling — Attach a less attractive habit to something you enjoy doing
• Group Influence
• “We are continuously wondering what others think about us and continuously changing our behavior”
• Find and become part of a culture where that habit is the norm
• Highlight the Anciently Hardwired positive things associated with hard habits and note them down, replace them with negative notions in your mind
• Make the habit easy
• Reduce friction so that the least amount of energy is required
• Make it short
• Have a low bar and a high bar
• Make it reachable
• Prepare things beforehand
• Find a 2 minute version of the habit you want to add
• Start a 30 Day Challenge Only instead of committing to permanence
• Make it satisfying
• This is the most important
• What is immediately rewarded is repeated — remember the keyword “Immediately”
• So have an EXCLUSIVE healthy snack immediately afterwards instead of in the evening
• Food, Play, Socializing, Relax, Intimate Time are primal rewards hardwired into the brain
• Have 3 types of rewards per habit:
• An Instant Reward — a compliment
• A Typical Reward
• A Delayed Reward backtracked to today
• Have visual measurements — moving marble from one jar to the next etc.
• Have a habit tracker
• Add Progress Bars to Weeks and Months to show your progress percentage
• On a bad day it is important to just show up and complete the BARE MINIMUM
• “Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you”
• Have ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNERS
• “I owe you Rs 1000 for breaking the chain, plus the respect I loose for failing to commit to what I said”
• Tell your partner what you did, don’t save your face by hiding the habit chain you broke
• Have a habit contract, sign in, and have your accountability partner hold you accountable

Example Cases

Good Habit :

Focus on this particular habit the most. THIS IS YOUR KEYSTONE HABIT!!!

Start with Basic at the Masjid maybe? Dont make it hard in the beginning. Let it automate and then level up.

Main Goal is automaticity, let it be makrooh and then repent afterwards, and then repent afterwards. What is more sinful, 10000 s at the Masjid or 10 s with Takbeer e Oola?

• Side note: This does not mean we can compromise on Faraidh. Do the bare minimum at least.

Have a Google Sheet for accountability

Good Habit : Pomos

Decrease number of Pomos to 3 because we can not add too many habits at once

Sleep can be overcome with not allowing compulsion

Compulsion kills productivity

Have focus apps

• Making it a Habit, by allowing easy work + less time
• Love is the solution to all productivity problems
• Make it your Passion
• Sell it yourself

Good Habit : Wind Up (Fajr Protocol)

Listenning to Exclusive Podcast/Nasheed/Seerah during run NO NO NO

JUST PICK ONE HABIT AND WAIT FOR AUTOMATICITY. JUST ONE. I REPEAT. JUST ONE!

So replace running with cycling but do not cycle too much, make it small, again. Cycle to work the earliest. Cycling to work is now part of Fajr protocol.

Good Habit : Wind Down (Isha Protocol)

Make this one optional because we cant add so many habits at once

Bad Habit : Day Streaks

• Triggers are smartphones and uni
• Remember that half seeing something creates cravings that full seeing does not
• When you feel the trigger coming, change your behavior. Run outside!!!
• Have Softwares installed
• Play Sports
• Keep yourself busy
• Reminders on Walls and Wallpapers
• Nikah and Saum
• Beat shaytan at his own game.. Leave things that are remotely related to this sin. Leave something that will lead to something that will lead to something that will lead to something that will lead to something that will lead to that sin
• Spend time in Wudu, with friends of ALLAH SWT, in the Masjid
• Praying will most certainly help the most

Bad Habit : Diet

Bad Habit : Modesty

Tell yourself it is a prestige, not refrainment

• It is a prestige to be a follower of Sunnah
• Muhammad Ali became the greatest by avoiding night clubs

Overcoming Procrastination and Doing Hard Things:

Make hard things fun:

• Make Life simple, easy and the life you want to be living. Aim for this life, not another life you would want to be in in the future. THE MOST IMPORTANT MIND BENDING TECHNIQUE. Do not aim for a life of more fun in the future. Make this part of life fun.
• Watching Islamic Videos for 10 hours straight without visible rest is fun for you and the hardest thing for others because you have accustomed yourself to this being fun. You had a day’s goal to accomplish something and you made it fun and through practice you found it attractive to do.
• Write down and track your achievements preferably through a progress bar
• Variety of Weekly Rewards — choose from a list through conventional qura andazi
• Novelty List of Future Events that spark joy in you, in visual form
• Write down every single step to get there
• Gamify Resistance — when you overcome resistance, you absorb its power
• How are slow burns less discomfortable?
• The rewards of life can be far far beyond what games can offer
• 321 Bismillah Rule
• Do something principle
• Stare at something for 60 seconds
• Set a clear goal for the day, week, month for the hours of work
• Start with small things — aim for small things
• Allow yourself to create garbage
• No distractions and notifications
• Have a low bar for number of hours you need to work — like 3 per day, and have four for an optional reward
• Have visuals
• Count good stuff and track it, write it down
• Measure level ups
• Have variable rewards that are rare
• The Burn the Boats technique to create a life-death situation. Have 1 Lakh on the line.
• The Destroy the Backdoor Technique to make life boring. Eliminate the ability to do nothing else than what you need to do.
• Have a bird's eye view to avoid emotional attachment to distraction
• Forcefully make life boring without using will power
• Remove conveniences from life to make it harder to do things
• The Locus of Control:
• Know that things you do for the Deen are in your control
• Make the work creative — where you are finding creative ways to solve the same problem
• Connect Everything clearly to your purpose
• Have progress bars that show leveling up, and divide the tasks into small crossable items, have multiple progress bars for studying
• If the real tests are away, create tests near into the future and treat them like challenges, in a friendly competition with friends, with variable rewards that are visible — close the feedback loop
• Bring friends to do the same boring task
• Scarcity of Rewards — get the rewards out of your life access first
• Loss and Avoidance — do it now else you loose this money or thing
• Big Co-Op Rewards for the team on the weekend
• Co Op Rewards per day in front of you, that have everyone's money involved, take an oath that you did the habit faithfully at the end to not loose your money hat you placed
• Accountability Group with Zoom Meetings
• Donating to Qaidianis as a Penalty
• Sell the living crap out of this thing you want to do, convince yourself it’s the most important thing o do
• Systems that have restriction even for sleep, like spikes on the bed
• Clarity of Steps and Rewards
• Focus on small goals
• Develop Positive Association to the hard thing by treating yourself with something exclusive
• Ownership of belief
• I am blessed to do this thing instead of I have to do this thing
• Replace scarcity mindset with abundance mindset
• Dopamine Detox:
• 7 Days at least
• Desensitization causes “the more you enjoy the more you need effect”
• To Cut
• Binge Tech
• Social media
• TV
• YouTube Homepage + Sidebar
• Games
• News
• Forums
• Opposite gender interaction and sins related
• Unhealthy Consumables
• Location Detox
• Thrill Seeking
• Bungee Jumping
• Shopping sprees
• Other categories
• 10 Mins of Zikr Daily in q quiet place, with Nature sounds
• Exercise like Hiking, Walks without lectures, Biking
• Calls and Conversations
• Lesser will power, more systems
• Set a Limit to Social Media apps for productive use and other dopamine inducing things — Intentional Restoration

Mission Bring Back Humanity (MBBH)

Keeping Promises:

Difference Between Promises, Oaths and Vows:

First of all, we would like to clarify the difference between promises, oaths (Ayman) and vows (Nadhr).

Promises

A promise is simply a statement that one will do or refrain from something in the future. There is no expiation due for breaking it, although it is sinful to make a promise with the intention of breaking it. If when making the promise one intends to fulfill it, then breaking it would be disliked. [Nahlawi, Durar Mubaha]

Oaths

An oath is a verbal statement conjoined with a phrase of swearing, such as “By Allah” or “I swear by Allah.” An oath is to swear by one of the Names of Allah or one of His Attributes to prove the correctness of something affirmatively or negatively, or to urge doing something or leaving it.

Vows

As regards the vow, it is defined as a permanent or discontinued offering that the person commits himself to present to Allah if a given good thing happens to him or a given bad thing does not affect him. The vow may be made without a condition, for instance, when the person says: "It is an obligation on me to pray two Rak'a for Allah or to do I’tikaf or the like" without stating a condition for that. It is dislikable to make vows as they add more obligations on the person who might not be able to abide by them or who might do them in an incomplete manner. This is why the Prophet, the Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) asked Muslims not to do it in a sound Hadeeth narrated by Imams Al-Bukhari and Muslim. The Prophet sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Allah says, 'The vow does not bring for the son of Adam anything that I have not decreed for him, but his vow may coincide with what has been decided for him, and in this manner, I cause a miser to spend of his wealth. So he gives Me (spends in charity) for the fulfillment of what has been decreed for him the thing which he would not give Me before but for his vow."

But when someone makes a vow, he must fulfill it.

Lastly, there is a difference between making a promise “to Allah” versus “by Allah.” A promise “to Allah” is legally a promise, while a promise “by Allah” is legally an oath.

Types of Oaths:

There are three types of oaths:

(1) The Engulfing Oath (yamin ghamus), which is to swear by Allah that one did or did not do something in the past, while deliberately lying about it. This is a major sin, so enormous that no expiation is due, since expiation is not enough to lift the sin. Rather, one must make sincere repentance and seek Allah’s forgiveness.

(2) The Enacted Oath (yamin mun`aqida), which is to swear to do or not do something in the future. If one breaks this type of oath, expiation is due.

(3) The Mistaken Oath (yamin laghw), which is to swear about something in the past, thinking that it is as such, while in reality it is not as such. No expiation is due, and we hope that Allah will not take the person to account for it.

The Engulfing Oath:

Whoever takes a false oath commits a grave sin. To make a false oath means to swear to a lie in order to prove or deny something. Abdullah Bin 'Amr Ibn Al-'Aas may Allaah be pleased with him related that the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "These are major sins: 1) Associating someone with Allah, 2) Disobeying one's parents, 3) Killing someone, 4) and tendering a false oath". [Al-Bukhari]

Ibn Mas’ood may Allaah be pleased with him narrated that the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: “A person who swears falsely in order to take possession of a Muslim's property unjustly shall face the wrath of Allah on the Day of Judgment. Another narration reads: “He will be deprived of Paradise and will enter Hell.” Therefore, whoever swears falsely should seek the forgiveness of Allah and he should sincerely repent. If he causes harm or injustice to someone by a false oath, he has to give back the right of those people and remove the injustice from them.

As for the expiation of a false oath, the majority of the Muslim Scholars say that there is no expiation for such an oath since it is greater than any expiation. It is narrated from Ibn Mas’ood that he said: “We used to consider the oath which can not be expiated to be the false oath”. [Al-Bayhaqi] Sayeed Ibn Al-Musayyib said: "It (the false oath) is among the grave sins. It is greater to be expiated".

This oath is called an ‘immersing oath’ because it immerses the swearer in sin and leads him to hell.

The basis of ruling that it is forbidden is the Qur’anic verse:

‘And do not take your oaths as [means of] deceit between you, lest a foot slip after it was [once] firm, and you would taste evil [in this world] for what [people] you diverted from the way of Allah , and you would have [in the Hereafter] a great punishment.’

Abu Hurayrah reports that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said

‘Five sins cannot be atoned for: the association of partners with Allah, wrongful murder, false claims against a believer, deserting the army in battle, and a false oath to make a wrongful gain.’

Types of Vows:

Types of vows and their fulfilment:

1- Vows which must be fulfilled (vows to do acts of worship and obedience to Allaah):

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in al-Fataawa (33/49): “If a man intends to vow to do some act of worship and obedience to Allaah, then he must fulfil it. If he does not fulfil his vow to Allaah, then he must offer kafaarat yameen, according to the majority of the salaf (early generations of Islam).”

2 - Vows which it is forbidden to fulfil, and for which kafaarat yameen must be offered:

1. Vows to commit sin:

‘Imraan ibn Husayn reported that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There should be no fulfilment of a vow to commit sin.” (Reported by Muslim, 3099).

2. Vows concerning which there is no ruling other than kafaarat yameen

• If a Muslim makes a vow but does not specify what the vow is about, such as saying, “I make a vow if Allaah heals this sick person” – but does not specify anything, then he must offer kafaarat yameen.
• If a person makes a vow concerning something that is not his, then he has no option but to offer kafaarat yameen.

3. Vows where one has the option of fulfilling the vow or of offering kafaarat yameen

• Every vow that comes in the form of an oath made to urge for something to be done or to stop something from being done, or to swear that something is true or not true, where the person does not really intend to make a vow to do some act of worship. For example, a man might say in anger, ‘If I ever do such-and-such I have to go for Hajj, or fast for a month, or give one thousand dinars in charity’. In such a case, this person – who made the vow for argument’s sake or to express the urgency of doing or refraining from something – has the choice of either fulfilling the vow, or expiating for it by offering kafaarat yameen, because his vow was essentially an oath (yameen)
• Every vow that includes permissible things, such as vowing to wear a certain type of clothes, eat special foods, ride a certain animal, enter a certain house, and so on.

Muslim scholars have stated that there are seven categories of vows:

1)      A vow of Lajaj (vow of anger): This means every vow that comes in the form of an oath made to urge for something to be done or to stop something from being done, without the person intending to make a vow or do a righteous act that draws him closer to Allaah, the Exalted. This kind of vow is governed by the same rulings of an oath. If the person fails to fulfill it, he is obliged to offer expiation like that of breaking an oath.

2)      A vow to do an act of obedience and righteousness: for example, one may say, "I make a vow to Allaah, the Exalted, that I will fast such and such days or spend such and such in charity if He Blesses my patient with recovery from his illness." It is incumbent on the person to fulfill this vow. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "Whoever vowed to do an act of obedience to Allaah, the Exalted, should do it." [Al-Bukhari, Abu Daawood, An-Nasa‘i, At-Tirmithi and Ibn Majah]

3)      A non-specific vow: it is when one makes a vow to Allaah, the Exalted, without specifying what he is vowing to do (saying, "I make a vow to Allaah"). According to most of the scholars, this type of vow requires the person to offer expiation like that of breaking an oath.

‘Uqbah ibn ‘Amir

reported that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "

The expiation of a vow when it is not specified is that of an oath.

" [At-Tirmithi]4)     

4. A vow to commit a sin: it is impermissible to fulfill such a vow according to the consensus of scholars. An example of that type of vow is when one makes a vow to drink alcohol or harm a Muslim. In this case, it is incumbent on the person to offer expiation for breaking an oath. This opinion was attributed to Ibn Mas‘ood, Ibn ‘Abbas, Jabir, and ‘Imran ibn Husayn and it is the opinion adopted by the Hanafi school of Fiqh. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said:

"A vow to do an act of disobedience to Allaah, the Exalted, must not be fulfilled and its expiation is the same as that of breaking an oath." [Ahmad and Abu Daawood] [Al-Albani: authentic]

5)      A vow to do something permissible such as wearing a garment or riding a mount. In this case, the person has the choice either to fulfill the vow or refrain from fulfilling it, in which case, he has to offer expiation like that of breaking an oath.

6)      A vow to do something obligatory such as performing the five obligatory prayers. Such a vow is not binding because a vow is a commitment and one cannot commit himself to what is already obligatory on him.

7)      A vow to do something that is impossible: such as making a vow to fast the day before. This vow is not considered a valid binding vow and it is not incumbent on the person to do anything concerning it.

As we have mentioned, the expiation for breaking a vow is the same as that of breaking an oath. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "The expiation for the (breach of) a vow is the same as that of the (breach of an oath)." [Muslim]

The expiation for breaking an oath is to free a slave, feed ten needy people, or clothe them. If one cannot afford any of the aforesaid options, he should fast three days.

Exceptions for Breaking Promises:

Undoubtedly keeping promises and keeping one’s word are attributes of the believers. And breaking promises is one of the attributes of the hypocrites.

The believer who makes promises to people and breaks his promise may have an excuse or he may not. If he has an excuse, then there is no sin on him, but if he does not have an excuse then he is a sinner.

There is no text – as far as we know – that makes any exception regarding the prohibition of breaking promises , but it may be that promises are broken in situations where the believer is excused. For example:

Forgetting

• Being forced to break one’s promise
• A promise to do something haram or not to do something obligatory.
• **Being forced to [break one’s promise]

Expiation for Breaking Multiple Promises:

If a person makes an oath to do only one thing, or to leave something, even if he breaks his oath many times, he is only required to expiate once if he did not expiate for the same oath before. However, if he expiated for the oath he has broken and then he makes an oath to do/leave the same thing again and breaks it, then he is obliged to expiate a second time, and so forth.

If a person does not know the number of oaths that require expiation, then he should endeavor to find out its number [by estimating it], and if he cannot know this, he should expiate for such a number of oaths that he believes they are most likely to be sufficient for clearing himself of liability.

Sin of Breaking Promises:

Hanafi View:

Promises:

Scholars of Islam differ concerning the ruling of honoring/breaking promises. There are three points of view in this concern:

1. According to the majority of Muslim scholars, it is desirable (not obligatory) to honor promises. This means that breaking a promise does not constitute a sin, but it is a detested act.

2. According to some scholars, it is a duty to honor a promise, so the one who breaks a promise is considered a sinner.

3. According to others, such an issue necessitates a detailed statement.

a) If breaking the promise harms others, then it is obligatory to honor your promise.

b) If breaking the promise does not harm others, then it is desirable to honor such a promise. This opinion, in fact, is the best view that satisfies the general goals of Shari'a.

That said, one should keep one’s word, as a point of honor and for fear that one will be asked about it on the Day of Judgment. ‘And be true to every promise, for verily you will be called to account for every promise which you have made’ (Qur’an, 17:34).

Vows

However, if he took an oath that he will never commit the sin again, then firstly, it will be necessary upon him to keep this oath. Allah Most High states:

“Keep your oaths.” (Sura al-Ma’idah, 89)

Therefore, if one swears an oath to abstain from a particular sin, then he must keep to that oath and must not break it. However, if one breaks his oath, expiation (kaffara) will be binding upon him.

Shaafi View:

In a promise, one says oneself or someone else that promises to do something. There is no expiation or anything else for breaking a promise.

That said, one should keep one’s word, as a point of honor and for fear that one will be asked about it on the Day of Judgment. ‘And be true to every promise, for verily you will be called to account for every promise which you have made’ (Qur’an, 17:34).

Standard View:

The verses of the Holy Qur’aan and the hadeeths of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) indicate that fulfilling promises and covenants is obligatory, and they point to abhorrence of the sin of the one who breaks them or fails to fulfil them. Failing to fulfil them may go so far as to constitute kufr, as happened to the Children of Israel and others when they broke the covenant with their Lord and abandoned their pledge to Allah to believe in Him and follow His Messengers. Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And fulfil (every) covenant. Verily! the covenant, will be questioned about”

[al-Isra’ 17:34]

“and fulfill the Covenant of Allâh”

[al-An ‘am 6:152]

And He says, praising His believing slaves (interpretation of the meaning):

“Those who fulfil the Covenant of Allâh and break not the Mîthâq (bond, treaty, covenant)”

[al-Ra ‘d 13:20].

Many texts of the Qur’aan and Sunnah clearly indicate that it is obligatory to fulfil promises and covenants, and it is haraam to break them and act in a treacherous manner. All the verses that mention promises and covenants indicate that both explicitly and implicitly.

Betrayal or treachery is the opposite of trustworthiness and loyalty. If trustworthiness and loyalty are the qualities of faith and piety, then betrayal and treachery are the qualities of hypocrisy and evil --Allah forbid.

It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allah ibn Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There are four characteristics, whoever has them all is a pure hypocrite: when he speaks he lies, when he makes a promise he breaks it, when he makes a covenant he betrays it, and when he disputes he resorts to obscene speech. Whoever has one of them has one of the characteristics of hypocrisy, until he gives it up.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3178; Muslim, 58.

It was narrated that ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever breaks the covenant of a Muslim, upon him be the curse of Allah, the angels and all the people, and Allah will not accept any obligatory or naafil act of worship from him.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1870; Muslim, 1370.

It was narrated from ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:

“Allaah will set up a banner for the betrayer on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said: This is the betrayer of So and so.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6178; Muslim, 1735.

We ask Allah to make us among those who fulfil promises and covenants and to grant us refuge from treachery and breaking of promises, and to help us to do good in word and deed… Praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.

“And of them are some who made a covenant with Allaah (saying): ‘If He bestowed on us of His Bounty, we will verily, give Sadaqah (Zakaah and voluntary charity in Allaah’s Cause) and will be certainly among those who are righteous.’

Then when He gave them of His Bounty, they became niggardly [refused to pay the Sadaqah (Zakaah or voluntary charity)], and turned away, averse.

So He punished them by putting hypocrisy into their hearts till the Day whereon they shall meet Him, because they broke that (covenant with Allaah) which they had promised to Him and because they used to tell lies”

[al-Tawbah 9:75]

It is not permissible to fail to fulfill this obligation, unless a person is unable to fulfil it at all, in which case he should offer kafaarat yameen (expiation for breaking a vow), because of the hadeeth: “Whoever makes a vow and is unable to fulfil it, his expiation is kafaarat yameen.” Narrated by Abu Dawood, 3322, from the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas.

Allah, Most High, says,

And fulfill (every) engagement, for (every) engagement will be enquired into on the day of reckoning. (Al-Isra: 34)

O ye who believe! Fulfill (all) obligations! (Al-Ma'idah: 1)

Az-Zajjaj said engagements include all what Allah commands or forbids. Al-Wahidi also said obligations include what Allah made lawful or unlawful in the Quran. Muqatil Ibn Hayyan added, it is also included the covenants held among Muslims or between Muslim and non- Muslims.

The Prophet (pbuh) said,

"There are four (habits) which, if found in a person, he is a perfect hypocrite. If one of these is found in a person, then he has one sign of hypocrisy, until he leaves it. These four characteristics of a hypocrite are: when he is entrusted (with something) he embezzles, when he talks he lies, when he promises he breaks it, and when he argues he starts abusing people."

The Prophet (pbuh) said,

"For everyone who breaks his promise, there will be a flag (to mark him out) on the Day of Judgment, and it will be announced that this flag is the symbol of promise by so and so." [Bukhari and Muslim]

The Prophet (pbuh) said,

"There will be three people against whom I shall fight on the Day of judgment: one, the person who makes a promise with an oath in my name and then breaks it, two, the person who sells a free man as a slave and appropriates his sale proceed and three, the person who employs, a workman and having taken full work from him fails to pay him his dues." [Bukhari, Ibn Majah and Ahmad]

The Prophet (pbuh) said,

"Whoever withdraws himself from an engagement of loyalty will meet Allah with no excuse on the Day of Judgment. The death of someone who dies without the leader of a group over him is as if he had died in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance." [Muslim, Ibn Hibban and Ahmad]