How a vow (nadhr) comes into being

Question

Question: Someone made an intention, or wrote with the tongue (?), that “I will make this animal into a treat for distribution.” What is meant by this is that, having slaughtered it, I will give some portion to the mosque and feed the rest to the people of the neighbourhood and my own household, or I will eat it only at home, as is known from custom; and in eating it neither the well-to-do (owners of nisab) nor he himself refrain. Will this become a vow (nadhr)?

Answer

For a vow (nadhr), a formula of self-obligation (sighat al-iltizam) is necessary; no obligation arises from the intention mentioned and the words mentioned.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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