or else they would state the conditions upon which they were pledging allegiance and then say, “We pledge allegiance to you on these terms,” just as the Ansār (Helpers) pledged allegiance to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—on the Night of al-Aqaba. When al-Hajjāj introduced the [wicked practices] that he did, one of them was to make people bind their allegiance to Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān by invoking divorce, manumission, an oath by Allah, and the giving of their wealth in charity. These four were the original innovated oaths of allegiance. Thereafter, those deputized by governors, kings, and others introduced many additional oaths, and their customs regarding them sometimes differed. Whoever introduced this bears the sin of whatever evil resulted from these oaths.

[The Second Preliminary: Oaths Are Sometimes Sworn in the Oath Form and Sometimes in the Conditional Form]

The second preliminary is that [these oaths are sometimes sworn in the oath form and sometimes in the conditional form]. It is inconceivable for an oath to take any form outside these two. The former is exemplified by saying, “By Allah, I shall not do such-and-such”; “Divorce shall be binding upon me; I shall not do such-and-such”; “What is lawful shall be forbidden to me; I shall not do such-and-such”; or, “Hajj shall be binding upon me; I shall not do such-and-such.”

The latter is exemplified by saying, “If I do such-and-such, then I am a Jew or a Christian, or I am disassociated from Islam”; or, “If I do such-and-such, then my wife is divorced”; [or, “If I do such-and-such, then my wife is forbidden to me, or she is to me like my mother’s back”]; or, “If I do such-and-such, then Hajj is binding upon me, or my wealth shall be given in charity.”

For this reason, the jurists organized the issues concerning oaths into two chapters. The first is the chapter on making divorce conditional. In it, they discuss swearing in the conditional form, using “if,” “when,” “whenever,” and similar expressions, although the oath form is also included implicitly and as an ancillary matter. The second is the Comprehensive Chapter on Oaths, covering matters common to oaths by Allah, divorce, manumission, and other such oaths. In it, they discuss swearing in the oath form, although the conditional form is also included implicitly and as an ancillary matter.