I say, and with God's help: The purpose of the vow is to give charity in the way of God, and its recipients are the poor and no one else. It is not permissible for the one who makes the vow to eat from his vow, whether he is rich or poor, nor to feed those to whom it is not permissible to give them zakat and the fitrah charity, such as his relatives and his wife. If he eats from it or feeds these people, he must compensate for what he ate for the poor. Our esteemed Sheikh, Professor Dr. Abdul Malik Al-Saadi, said in his book on oaths and vows, page 27: "If he slaughters a sheep, he might give some to a rich person or eat from it, and that is not permissible. If he eats from the vowed item, or feeds someone whose maintenance he is responsible for, or feeds someone who is not a recipient, he must compensate for what he fed." In Al-Bahr Al-Ra'iq, volume 2, page 319: "The recipients of the vow are the poor... It is not permissible to give it to a rich person who is not in need, nor to a nobleman in a position; because it is not permissible for him to take it unless he is in need or poor, nor to a person of lineage because of his lineage unless he is poor, nor to a person of knowledge because of his knowledge unless he is poor. It has not been established in Sharia that it is permissible to give to the rich, due to the consensus on the prohibition of vows for creatures, and it does not become valid nor does the obligation arise from it; because it is forbidden, rather it is unlawful." And see: Indian Fatwas, volume 1, page 216. This ruling also applies to the vowed sacrifice, unlike other sacrifices. Imam Al-Zailai said in Taba'in Al-Haqaiq, volume 6, page 8: "This applies to both obligatory and Sunnah sacrifices, whether it is obligatory by vow or not. If it is obligatory by vow, he should not eat anything from it nor feed a rich person, whether the one who vowed is rich or poor; because its purpose is charity, and the one who gives charity does not have that right. If he eats, he must compensate for what he ate." Similar statements can be found in Rad Al-Muhtar, volume 6, page 327, Al-'Inayah, volume 9, page 518, Al-Bahr, volume 8, page 199, Majma' Al-Anhar, volume 2, page 520, and Al-Durr Al-Mukhtar, volume 6, page 320. In Lubab Al-Manasik, page 431: "If he donates the sacrificial animal to his relatives, or his offspring, or his servant, or his wife, or donates it to his husband, it is not permissible." Sheikh Atiyah Saqr was asked, as mentioned in Al-Azhar Fatwas, volume 10, page 241: "I vowed to God that if He heals me, I will slaughter a sheep. Is it permissible for me to eat from it? He answered: If a person vows something that is out of his ownership, he must direct it to what he vowed to, as Allah Almighty said: {And fulfill their vows} [Al-Hajj: 29]. So whoever vows to give a sheep in charity or distribute food must coordinate or distribute it to the poor and needy. It is not permissible for the one who vowed to take anything from the vow, neither for eating nor for anything else, such as the skin of the sheep for bedding, or praying over it, or its wool for benefit. Rather, he should give everything in it for the sake of Allah... He said: It is understood from this discussion that the vowed food is not permissible for the one who vowed to eat from it, according to the agreement of the scholars, whether the vow is a sacrifice in Hajj and Umrah, or otherwise. Ahmad allowed it only in the case of sacrifice and even made it recommended, as mentioned in Al-Mughni, volume 3, page 1584. And Allah knows best.