1188 – Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) related that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever swears an oath and adds, ‘If Allah wills,’ incurs no ḥinth (breach of oath).” Reported by Ahmad and the Four Sunan compilers, and declared authentic by Ibn Ḥibbān. (1)

Degree of authenticity:
The ḥadith is sound.
The compiler states that it was transmitted by Imām Ahmad and the Four and authenticated by Ibn Ḥibbān. Al-Manāwī quotes Ibn Ḥajar as saying that its transmitters are trustworthy, and al-Suyūṭī judged it ḥasan in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr.
Al-Tirmidhī said, “We know of no one who traced it back to the Prophet except Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī.”
Ibn ʿUlayyah remarked, “At times Ayyūb narrated it as traced to the Prophet, and at other times he stopped with the Companion.”
Al-Bayhaqī observed, “It is not sound as a Prophetic report except through Ayyūb, and even he expressed doubt about it.”
Al-Ḥākim declared, “Its chain of transmission is sound,” a verdict with which al-Dhahabī agreed. Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd also rated it sound, and both al-Zaylaʿī and al-Ṣanʿānī preferred the view that its Prophetic attribution is authentic.

Vocabulary:
ḥinth – pronounced with a kasrah on the ḥāʾ and a silent nūn, followed by a thāʾ: failure to fulfill one’s oath; that is its meaning here.

Points derived from the ḥadith:
1 – The ḥadith shows that if someone takes an oath that would normally require expiation, yet he introduces an exception by saying, “If Allah wills I will certainly do such-and-such,” or “If Allah wills I will certainly refrain from such-and-such,” then he does not commit perjury in