These verses contain far-reaching principles. Before addressing them, however, several preliminaries of immense benefit in this chapter and elsewhere must be set forth.

The First Preliminary: An oath comprises two clauses: the clause containing what is invoked in the oath, and the clause containing the matter sworn to. Questions concerning oaths therefore relate either to the ruling on what is invoked in the oath or to the ruling on the matter sworn to.

As for what is invoked in the oath, the oaths sworn by Muslims that may entail legal consequences are of six types, with no seventh:

The first is an oath by Allah or anything equivalent to it, including a formula that would entail unbelief were the [assertion] true, such as declaring oneself a Jew or a Christian if one does such-and-such—subject to the disagreement among jurists concerning this.

The second is an oath involving a vow known as the vow of obstinacy and anger, such as saying, “Hajj is binding upon me; I will not do such-and-such,” or, “If I do such-and-such, Hajj is binding upon me,” or, “My wealth shall be given in charity if I do such-and-such,” and similar formulas.

The third is an oath invoking divorce.

The fourth is an oath invoking manumission.

The fifth is an oath invoking prohibition, such as saying, “What is lawful shall be forbidden to me; I will not do such-and-such.”

The sixth is zihār, such as saying, “You are to me like my mother’s back if I do such-and-such.”

These, taken together, are all the forms of oath sworn by Muslims that carry legal consequences.

As for swearing by anything created—such as swearing by the Kaaba, the grave of a shaykh, or