“Seeking thereby to please your wives? Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [al-Tahrīm: 1] [al-Tahrīm]. This verse indicates that whenever someone prohibits what Allah has made lawful, Allah is forgiving toward the one who does so and merciful to him, and that there is no cause requiring such a prohibition to take effect. This is because [the expression “why”] is an interrogative carrying the sense of negation and disapproval. The implied meaning is: “There is no reason for you to prohibit what Allah has made lawful for you, and Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” If a person who swore by a vow, manumission, or divorce that he would not do something had no dispensation, there would then be a cause for making the lawful unlawful, and the grounds for forgiveness and mercy would be absent in the case of this person.

Moreover, He—Glorified is He—says:

“O believers! Do not forbid the good things Allah has made lawful for you, and do not transgress. Surely Allah does not love the transgressors. Eat of the lawful, good things Allah has provided for you, and be mindful of Allah, in Whom you believe. Allah will not call you to account for unintentional oaths, but He will call you to account for the oaths you bind yourselves by. Their expiation is to feed ten poor people with food of the average kind you feed your families, or to clothe them, or to free a slave. But whoever cannot find the means must fast for three days. That is the expiation for your oaths when you swear. Guard your oaths. Thus does Allah make His signs clear to you, so that you may give thanks.” [al-Mā’idah: 87–89] [al-Mā’idah].

The proof contained in these verses is the same as—and stronger than—the proof in the first verse. He says, “O believers! Do not forbid the good things Allah has made lawful for you” [al-Mā’idah: 87]. This is general and includes prohibiting them through oaths of divorce and other oaths. He then explained the way out of this by saying, “Allah will not call you to account for unintentional oaths, but He will call you to account for the oaths you bind yourselves by. Their expiation is…” [al-Mā’idah: 89]—that is, the expiation for your making or entering into binding oaths. This is general. He then says, “That is the expiation for your oaths when you swear” [al-Mā’idah: 89]. This is general, just as His words “Guard your oaths” [al-Mā’idah: 89] are general.

Further demonstrating its general scope is that they included oaths of divorce within the general meaning of the Prophet’s words (peace and blessings be upon him): “Whoever takes an oath and says, ‘If Allah wills,’ may act if he wishes and, if he wishes,