in an oath, he swears by it only in order to bind and secure the matter sworn to. Because of its greatness in his heart, once he binds something by it, he will not undo it. If he does undo what he bound by it, then [its greatness has diminished] in his heart, and the bond between himself and the object sworn by has been severed. As one scholar said, “An oath is to bind oneself on account of the right of one to whom a right is due.” Hence, when an oath is deliberately false, it is among the major sins that incur Hellfire. As He, Glorified is He, says: “Indeed, those who exchange the covenant of Allah and their oaths for a paltry price will have no share in the Hereafter. Allah will neither speak to them nor look at them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them; and they will have a painful punishment” [Āl Imrān: 77] [ĀL IMRĀN]. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, also included it among the major sins in the report narrated by Imām Ahmad in al-Musnad from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Five things have no expiation: associating partners with Allah, killing a soul without right, falsely accusing a believer, fleeing on the day of battle, and a binding oath by which one wrongfully seizes property.”

This is because, when a person deliberately uses Allah to bind what is not truly bound by Him, he has impaired the bond between himself and his Lord. He is like someone who attributes to Allah something from which He is utterly transcendent, or who disavows Allah. This differs from swearing about a future act: in that case, he binds an act by Allah, intending to bind himself to it in a manner that venerates Allah. Yet Allah has permitted him to dissolve this bond that he formed by Him, just as He permits him, when necessary, to leave certain obligations or removes their obligation from him. Hence, most scholars have said that if a person declares, “I am a Jew or a Christian if I do not do such-and-such,” it constitutes an oath equivalent to saying, “By Allah, I will certainly do it.” This is because he has linked his failure to act with his unbelief—which constitutes his disavowal of Allah—and he will thus have