hardships, or to ask them to request such things from Allah the Exalted. Indeed, were a person to adjure Allah by any of His creatures—be they prophets, angels, or others—he would still be prohibited from doing so, even if he were nowhere near a grave. Just as one must never swear by any created being whatsoever, so too is this form of oath forbidden and invalid, by consensus of the leading jurists.

Is the prohibition one of outright forbiddance (taḥrīm) or merely of disapproval (tanzīh)? Two opinions exist, the sounder of which is that it is unequivocally forbidden.

The scholars have differed only regarding swearing specifically by the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Within the Ḥanbalī school two views are reported, and some of its scholars, such as Ibn ʿAqīl, extended that disagreement to swearing by the rest of the prophets. However, the position adopted by the overwhelming majority of the imams—Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Ḥanīfah, and others—is that no oath taken by any created being is ever binding, and that one must not swear by a creature at all; this is the correct view.

On that very basis rests the issue of adjuring Allah by His Prophet Muḥammad—peace and blessings be upon him—and so the same difference of opinion appears here. A report from Aḥmad, recorded in the Manāsik of al-Marwazī, seems to support the view that such an oath would be effective; yet the soundest position is that it is not. The same ruling applies in this case.

As for adjuring Allah by anyone other than the Prophet, I know of no disagreement among the imams; rather, the scholars have explicitly declared it forbidden.