Narrated 'Abd al-Rahman b. Samurah:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said to me: 'Abd al-Rahman b. Samurah, when you swear an oath and consider something else to be better than it, do the thing that is beter and make atonement for your oath.
Abu Dawud said: I heard Ahmad (b. Hanbal) permitting to make atonement before breaking the oath.
Narrated Abu Burdah:
On the authority of his father that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: I swear by Allah that if Allah wills I shall swear on an oath and then consider something else to be better than it without making atonement…
A similar tradition has been transmitted by 'Abd al-Rahman b. Samurah through a different chain if narrators. This version has: "Make atonement for your oath and then do the thing that is better."
Abu Dawud said: The ve…