I vowed that I would not speak to my maternal uncle or enter his house, then I regretted that. Do I have to offer kafaarah?


Praise
be to Allaah.  

It
was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with them both)
that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Vows are of two kinds:
a vow that was for the sake of Allaah is expiated by being fulfilled,
and that which was for the Shaytaan should not be fulfilled, and he
has to offer expiation as in the case of kafaarat yameen (expiation
for breaking a oath).” 

Narrated by Ibn al-Jaarood in al-Muntaqaa, 935;
al-Bayhaqi, 10/72. 

This hadeeth was classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani
in al-Silsilat al-Saheehah, 479. 

Shaykh
al-Albaani said: 

[In this hadeeth] there is evidence of two things: 

1 – That if a vow concerns an act of worship towards
Allaah, then it must be fulfilled, and that is its expiation. It was
narrated in a saheeh report that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 

“Whoever vows to do an act of obedience towards Allaah,
then let him do it, and whoever vows to do an act of disobedience towards
Allaah, then he should not do it.” 

2 – Whoever swears a vow which involves disobeying the
Most Merciful (Allaah) and obeying the Shaytaan is not permitted to
fulfil it, and he has to offer expiation as in the case of kafaarat
yameen [i.e., expiation for an unfulfilled oath]. If the vow concerns
something makrooh (disliked), or he makes a vow to do something that
is mubaah (permissible) [but he does not do it], then it is more apt
that he should offer expiation, because of the general meaning of the
words of the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), “The expiation for a vow
is kafaarat yameen.” 

This was narrated by Muslim and others from the hadeeth
of ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Aamir (may Allaah be pleased with him), and it is narrated
in al-Irwaa’, 8/210. 

What we have mentioned here, both the first and second
points, is agreed upon by the scholars, except with regard to the obligation
of offering kafaarah for vows concerning sin and so on. The view that
it is obligatory is the view of Imaam Ahmad and Ishaaq, as al-Tirmidhi
said (1/288). It is also the view of the Hanafis, and this is the correct
view because of the hadeeth quoted above and what we have stated above. 

Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah,
hadeeth 479.