clothing them, or emancipating a believing slave; and if he cannot afford any of that, he must fast three consecutive days.

Whoever breaks several oaths sworn by Allah before making expiation needs only one expiation. By contrast, the expiation for zihār and the expiation for an oath sworn by Allah do not combine.

Section

When determining what an oath covers, one first consults the swearer’s own intention, so long as the wording can bear it. If that is unknown, reference is made to the occasion and motive that provoked the oath; if that is also unknown, then to any explicit specification; failing that, to everything the term legally includes—giving precedence to the juristic meaning, then to customary usage, and finally to the purely linguistic sense.

If a person swears that he will not sell—and similar expressions—he does not violate the oath by entering an invalid (void) sale, unless he explicitly says, “I will not sell wine,” or something comparable.

If someone swears that he will not eat meat, he does not break the oath by eating fat, liver, brain, and the like, provided his wording was unrestricted.

If a person swears not to do a certain act and then deputizes someone else to do it, he has broken the oath—unless he specifically intended only that he himself would not perform it personally.

Whoever swears to abstain from intercourse with his wife breaks the oath by having relations with her. One who swears not to set foot in So-and-so’s house breaks it by entering that house. If he swears not to eat a particular item and later consumes it as an indistinguishable ingredient in another food so that its taste is not perceptible, he is not considered to have broken the oath. Similarly, he does not incur a violation if he performs the prohibited act under duress, out of forgetfulness, or in ignorance—except in matters of divorce and manumission—or if he performs only part of the act.