—whether the contract be a sale, a marriage, a lease, or any other agreement that he is required to honor, for such contracts are binding even without an oath, and once he has sworn to them they are all the more binding. Whoever, therefore, issues a fatwa allowing a person to annul these contracts and break his oath is fabricating lies against Allah and issuing verdicts that have nothing to do with the religion of Islam. How much more blameworthy is it, then, when this applies to⦗1⦘ covenants made with the rulers, which are the greatest of the contracts Allah has commanded us to fulfill⦗2⦘!

Likewise, the majority of scholars hold that an oath extracted from someone under unlawful coercion does not take effect—whether it be an oath by Allah, a vow, a declaration of divorce, or a manumission—and this is the position of Malik, al-Shafi‘i, and Ahmad.

Therefore, if the ruler forces people to carry out what they already owe him in terms of obedience and sincere counsel, and he makes them swear to it, it is impermissible for anyone to permit them to abandon what Allah and His Messenger have commanded, or to grant them a dispensation.