the abandonment of an obligation or the commission of a forbidden act, he has sinned; he must therefore break the oath and pay its expiation. If he swears to omit a recommended act or to perform a disliked one, breaking the oath is recommended and an expiation is still required. Concerning a permissible act, whether to do it or to leave it, the better course is to keep the oath—although another view prefers breaking it. He may, apart from fasting, offer the expiation in advance of a violation that is either permissible or prohibited. I say: this is the sounder opinion, and Allah knows best. The expiation for ẓihār falls due when he wishes to resume marital relations; the expiation for homicide becomes obligatory upon the victim’s death; and the expiation for a vow involving property is likewise tied to its cause.

Section

For an oath-expiation he may choose among three alternatives:

1. Manumitting a slave, as in the expiation for ẓihār;
2. Feeding ten needy persons, each receiving one mudd (about 0.6 litre) of the staple food of his land; or
3. Clothing those ten with something that people customarily call “clothing”, such as a shirt, turban, or waist-wrapper—not footwear, gloves, or a belt.

The garment need not suit the recipient, so it is acceptable to give a small pair of trousers to a large person for whom they do not fit, or to give cotton, linen, or even silk to a woman or a man, or to offer a used garment whose fabric has not worn thin.

If he cannot manage any of these three, he must fast three days; the stronger opinion is that the days need not be consecutive. If his wealth is merely out of reach, he waits for it and does not fast.

A slave does not discharge the expiation with property unless his master transfers ownership of food or clothing to him and we hold that he can in fact own it; in practice, however, the slave expiates by fasting. If fasting harms him, yet he swore and violated the oath with his master’s permission, he may fast without further permission. If either the oath or its breach lacked permission, the sounder view makes the validity of the oath itself depend on the permission. One who is half-free and possesses assets expiates by feeding or clothing, not by manumission.

Section

If a man swore that he would neither live nor stay in a certain house, he must leave it at once; should he linger without excuse he incurs perjury, even though he may already have removed his belongings. Merely busying himself with preparations for departure—collecting his goods, escorting his family out, or putting on his clothes—does not amount to perjury, even if