Thus, saying, “If I do such-and-such, I must perform Hajj this year,” is equivalent to saying, “By Allah, if I do such-and-such, I shall certainly perform Hajj this year.” Were he to say this, expiation would only become due if he did that act and failed to perform Hajj that year. Likewise, if he says, “If I do such-and-such, I must perform Hajj this year,” expiation only becomes due if he does that act and fails to perform Hajj that year.

The same applies if he says, “If I do such-and-such, I must free my slave or divorce my wife.” Expiation only becomes due if he does that act without divorcing his wife or freeing his slave. The same applies even if he says, “By Allah, if I do such-and-such, then, by Allah, I shall certainly divorce my wife and free my slave.”

Likewise, if he says, “If I do such-and-such, my wife is divorced and my slave is free,” this is equivalent to saying, “By Allah, if I do such-and-such, divorce and emancipation shall certainly take effect in my case, and I shall certainly bring about that divorce and emancipation.” If he does that act, expiation only becomes due if the divorce and emancipation do not take effect. If he does not bring them about, they do not occur, because the condition for breaching the oath has not been fulfilled: the breach depends upon two conditions.

What is made conditional may be either an obligation or an occurrence. Thus, if he says, “If I do such-and-such, I must fast for a month,” what is made conditional is the obligation to fast. If he says, “Then my slave is free and my wife is divorced,” what is made conditional is the occurrence of emancipation and divorce.

As explained earlier, if the person making the conditional pronouncement intends its consequence to occur when the condition is fulfilled, it does occur. For example, he may intend to divorce his wife if she releases him from his obligation to pay her dowry, saying, “If you release me from paying your dowry, you are divorced.” Here, the divorce takes effect when the stipulated condition is fulfilled.

But if his intention is to swear an oath, while he is averse to the consequence occurring when the condition is fulfilled, then he is taking an oath, just as if he said, “Divorce shall be binding upon me: I shall certainly do such-and-such.”