Thus, what is considered serious means a large sum of money, or cases involving retribution, theft, and the like. These are matters of serious consequence. As for something trivial, no solemnity is added to the oath.
Some scholars have said: whenever the judge considers it appropriate to make the oath more solemn, he should do so; and whenever he does not consider it appropriate, he should not. That is, the matter is left to the judge’s independent judgment. He may consider solemnification appropriate because the defendant is a dishonest man who would not hesitate to say, “By Allah, he has no claim against me.” But if we make the oath more solemn for him, perhaps he will refrain from swearing and withdraw. Or the judge may consider that the oath should not be made more solemn because the defendant is an upright and truthful man, who could not say, “I have nothing of his,” unless he were telling the truth, even without being made to swear. The correct view is that this is left to the judge’s independent judgment: if he considers solemnification appropriate, he should make the oath more solemn; otherwise, he should not.
According to the preponderant view, an oath may be made more solemn through its wording, the time, the place, and the manner.
As for time, it is after the afternoon prayer. It has also been said that it is between the call to prayer and the commencement of the prayer, but the correct view is that it is after the afternoon prayer, due to Allah’s saying: “Detain them both after the prayer” [al-Ma'idah 5:106]—that is, after the afternoon prayer.
As for place: in the Sacred Mosque, they say it is between the Corner and the Station; in Jerusalem, they say it is by the Rock; and in the remaining mosques, it is by the pulpit, because that is the place from which the remembrance of Allah and the call to Allah are proclaimed. However, Shaykh al-Islam says concerning Jerusalem that it is like other mosques, namely, that the oath should be administered by the pulpit; that the Rock possesses no sanctity in itself; and that the origin of its veneration came from the Christians, because the one who had occupied it mistreated it, and when the other overcame him, he began to venerate this Rock and remove the filth from it.