Thus, expiation cancels its force. Accordingly, they did not impose expiation on the one who says, “If I do such-and-such, walking to the House of Allah is incumbent upon me, and no expiation is due,” unlike the case of someone who simply says, “Walking to the House of Allah is incumbent upon me.” The latter is, by unanimous agreement, a vow, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever vows to obey Allah, let him obey Him; and whoever vows to disobey Him, let him not disobey Him.”
The root of this disagreement over these condition-based statements is therefore: Are they oaths, are they vows, or are they neither oaths nor vows? Reflect on this, for it will, God willing, become clear.
Fourth Issue
The jurists differed about a person’s statement, “I swear” or “I testify, if such-and-such is the case.” Is this an oath or not? There are three opinions:
- It is not an oath; this is one of the two views attributed to al-Shāfiʿī.
- It is an oath, in opposition to the first view; this is the position of Abū Ḥanīfah.
- If the speaker means Allah by it, it is an oath; if he does not, it is not an oath. This is Mālik’s school.
The reason for their divergence lies in whether priority should be given to (a) the explicit verbal form, (b) the meaning customarily understood from that form, or (c) the speaker’s intention.
• Whoever gives priority to the explicit wording says it is not an oath, because no entity is actually named as the object of the oath.
• Whoever relies on customary usage says it is an oath, holding that the wording necessarily implies an unspoken phrase—“by Allah, Exalted is He.”
• Whoever sets both of these aside and looks to intention—since the wording can serve either sense—distinguishes accordingly, as explained earlier.
[Second Section: on identifying the factors that dissolve binding oaths and the rulings connected to them]
[First Division: the examination of exceptions (istithnāʾ)]
[Chapter One: conditions for an exception that alters the ruling of an oath]
This second section is initially divided into two divisions:
First Division: the examination of exceptions;
Second Division: the examination of expiations.
First Division—and within it two chapters:
Chapter One: the conditions for an exception that affects an oath;
Chapter Two: defining the oaths in which an exception is effective and those in which it is not.