and a slave whose emancipation is suspended on a condition, anything he has bequeathed, a debt that has fallen due, and—on the sounder view—even a deferred debt, though not a mukātib (a slave who has contracted to purchase his freedom) according to the stronger opinion.

• If he swears, “I will certainly beat him,” the oath is fulfilled by whatever people customarily call a beating; actual pain is not required unless he specifies “a severe beating.” Merely laying a whip on him, or biting, strangling, or pulling out his hair is not deemed beating. One opinion adds that slapping and punching are likewise excluded.

• If he swears, “I will beat him one hundred lashes,” or “with a stick one hundred times,” then ties a hundred whips together and strikes him once, or fastens to him a bundle containing one hundred palm stalks, he has fulfilled the oath provided he knows that every one of them has made contact—or that some overlapped yet the pain of all was felt.
The author remarks: “If he is uncertain whether they all struck, he is still regarded—according to the explicit text—as having fulfilled the oath. Allah knows best.”

• If, however, he swears, “I will beat him one hundred times,” the foregoing device does not suffice.

• If he swears, “I will not leave you until I have collected my due,” and the debtor escapes so that he cannot follow him, he is perjured. The author comments: “The correct view is that he is not perjured so long as he is still able to follow him—Allah knows best.” If he actually leaves him, or merely stands still until the debtor walks off while they were both walking, or he forgives the debt, or employs a legal stratagem against the debtor and then leaves him, or the debtor is declared insolvent and he leaves him until the latter becomes solvent, he is perjured.
Should he collect the payment and then part from him, only to discover that the payment is deficient—being of the same kind yet of inferior quality—he is not perjured. He is deemed perjured only if he knew of the deficiency; otherwise there are two opinions.

• If he swears, “I will not ignore any wrongdoing without taking it to the judge,” then he witnesses a wrong, is able to report it, and fails to do so until the wrongdoer dies, he perjures himself. The wording is understood to refer to the judge of the town; if that judge is removed from office, he fulfils the oath by referring the matter to his successor.
If he says, “I will refer it to a judge,” any judge suffices. If he says, “I will refer it to Judge So-and-so,” then witnesses the wrong and that judge is later dismissed, the ruling depends on his intention: if he meant “while he is still judge,” he perjures himself if he could have reported it but did not; otherwise the case is treated like coercion. If he had no such restriction in mind, he fulfils the oath by reporting it to that person even after dismissal.

Section
• If a man swears, “I will not sell,” or “I will not buy,” and then he himself concludes a contract—whether for his own benefit or on behalf of someone else—he perjures; but he does not perjure if his agent concludes the contract for him.

• Likewise, if he swears, “I will not arrange a marriage,” “I will not pronounce a divorce,” “I will not free a slave,” or “I will not beat anyone,” and then appoints someone else to perform the act, he is not perjured—unless what he intended was that the act not be carried out at all, no matter who performs it.