such as al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad, and others, concerning conditional vows. They said: “If his intention is to make a vow and he says, ‘If Allah heals my sick relative, I must perform Hajj,’ then he is making a vow: if Allah heals his sick relative, Hajj becomes obligatory for him. This person is swearing an oath; expiation for an oath suffices him, and he is not obliged to perform Hajj.”

Likewise, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—including Ibn ʿUmar, Ibn ʿAbbās, ʿĀʾishah, Umm Salamah, Zaynab, the Prophet’s stepdaughter, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and several other Companions—said concerning someone who declares, “If I do such-and-such, every slave I own is free”: “He must expiate his oath, but he is not obliged to free them.”

This is despite emancipation being an act of obedience and a means of drawing near to Allah. All the more reason, then, that divorce should not take effect. As Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “Divorce is for a purpose, and emancipation is that by which Allah’s pleasure is sought.” Al-Bukhārī cited this in his Sahīh. Ibn ʿAbbās explained that divorce takes effect only for someone whose purpose is to bring it about, not someone who dislikes its taking effect, such as someone swearing an oath by divorce or someone coerced into it.

It is also reported that ʿĀʾishah said: “Every oath, however grave, is expiated in the same way as an oath sworn by Allah.”

This encompasses all oaths, including those involving divorce, emancipation, vows, and other matters. The view that divorce does not take effect for someone who swears an oath by it is held by many scholars, both earlier and later. Some, however, do not require him to offer expiation, such as Dāwūd and his followers, while others require expiation for an oath, such as Tāwūs and other earlier and later scholars.

The oaths people swear are of three kinds.

The first is a sacred, binding oath, such as swearing by the name of Allah Most High. Expiation for such an oath is established by the Quran, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus.