by divorce, by declaring something forbidden, or anything similar, because the prescribed oath is an oath by Allah. There are—may Allah protect us—some judges or rulers who make a person swear by divorce and are not satisfied with his swearing by Allah. They say, “If we tell him, ‘Swear by Allah,’ he will swear without concern; but if we tell him, ‘Swear by divorce,’ he will say, ‘If such-and-such is the case, then my wife is divorced,’ and so he fears divorcing his wife.” We do not deny that this may indeed occur. Some people may take lightly swearing by Allah, whereas they do not take lightly an oath by divorce. Nevertheless, it is not permissible for a judge to administer an oath by divorce, whether in disputes or otherwise, due to the Messenger’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “Whoever swears an oath should swear by Allah or remain silent.” (1) Thus, the prescribed oath is an oath by Allah, glorified and exalted is He.
His statement, “Nor is it made more solemn except in matters of serious consequence”: an oath is made more solemn only in matters of serious consequence—that is, matters of considerable importance. It is not permissible to make it more solemn in a trivial matter. The one who may request that the oath be made more solemn is either the judge or the claimant. If the claimant requests this and the judge considers the matter serious, he may make the oath more solemn. For example, if someone claims one million riyals from another, this is a matter of serious consequence. But if he claims ten riyals from him, it is not of serious consequence. Or suppose Zayd and Amr bring a dispute before a judge over a sandal worth five riyals. The defendant says, “I do not have it, nor have I seen it.” The judge then asks the claimant, “Do you have evidence?” He replies, “I have no evidence.” The judge says, “Then you are entitled to his oath.” The claimant says, “But make his oath more solemn.” The judge should not grant his request, because this is a trivial matter. If the claimant says, “It may be trivial to you, but it is not trivial to me,” we say: the criterion is what is considered moderate among people.