that are perfect,” and “I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your wrath,” and similar expressions. This is a matter firmly established among the scholars.

That being so, an oath involving a vow, divorce, or the like is an oath by the attributes of Allah. For when someone says, “If I do such-and-such, pilgrimage will be incumbent upon me,” he has sworn by pilgrimage becoming obligatory upon him. Making pilgrimage obligatory is one of Allah’s rulings and thus one of His attributes. The same applies if he says, “Then I must emancipate a slave.” If he says, “Then my wife is divorced and my slave is free,” he has sworn by the loss of his ownership, which amounts to making it forbidden to him. Declaring something forbidden is one of Allah’s attributes, just as declaring it obligatory is one of His attributes. Allah has made this one of His signs in His words: “Do not take the signs of Allah in mockery” [al-Baqarah: 231] [al-Baqarah: 231]. Thus, He made His prescribed limits concerning marriage, divorce, and separation for compensation among His signs. However, when a person swears by declaring something obligatory or forbidden, he has bound an oath for Allah, just as he binds a vow for Allah. His statement, “Pilgrimage and fasting are incumbent upon me,” constitutes a commitment to Allah. Yet when he employs it as an oath, he does not intend to make a commitment to Allah; rather, he intends to swear by it. Thus, if he breaks his oath and fails to fulfill it, he has abandoned what he committed to Allah, just as, when he performs the act sworn about, he has abandoned what he bound himself to by Allah.

This is clarified by the fact that, when a person swears by Allah or by something other than Allah that he reveres