had the hadith not indicated this, Umar ibn al-Khattab’s use of it as evidence for the answer he gave the questioner—namely, that he should make expiation rather than spend the money on clothing the Kaaba—would not have been valid. Moreover, the wording of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) encompasses all of this.
Another indication that oaths made by means of vows, divorce, and manumission fall within the terms “oath” and “swearing” in the words of Allah and His Messenger is the report narrated by Ibn Umar. He said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever swears an oath and says, ‘If Allah wills,’ will not be regarded as having broken it.” This was narrated by Ahmad, al-Nasā’ī, Ibn Mājah, and al-Tirmidhī, who said, “It is a good hadith.” The wording narrated by Abū Dāwūd is: [Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us, saying:] Sufyān narrated to us, from Ayyūb, from Nāfi, from Ibn Umar—tracing the report back to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)—that he said: “Whoever swears an oath and says, ‘If Allah wills,’ has made an exception.” He also narrated it by way of Abd [al-Wārith], from Nāfi, from Ibn Umar, who said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever swears and adds an exception may, if he wishes, go back on it or, if he wishes, leave it, without breaking his oath.”
Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever swears and says, ‘If Allah wills,’ does not break his oath.” This was narrated by Ahmad, al-Tirmidhī, and Ibn Mājah, whose wording is: “He has the benefit of his exception.” Al-Nasā’ī’s wording is: “He has made an exception.”
Furthermore, jurists generally held that oaths made by means of vows, divorce, and manumission fall under this hadith, and they said that qualifying such an oath with “if Allah wills” is effective. Indeed, many scholars of Ahmad’s school maintain that there is no disagreement within his school that such a qualification is effective in an oath of divorce; the disagreement concerns only