Whoever vows to travel to a place in order to venerate it, other than these three mosques—such as Mount Sinai, where Allah spoke to Moses son of ‘Imrān; the cave of Hirā’, where the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to worship; or the cave of Thawr, concerning which Allah Most High said:

“one of two, when they were in the cave”—

must not fulfil that vow, by agreement of the imams. How much more, then, does this apply to other caves and caverns! The same applies if someone vows to travel to the grave of Allah’s intimate friend, peace be upon him, the grave of Abū Barīd, the grave of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, or the graves of those buried in al-Baqī‘. Visiting graves is prescribed for someone who is nearby and whose purpose is to supplicate for the deceased. Travelling to them, however, is prohibited.

As for swearing by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the majority of scholars hold that this too is prohibited, that it does not constitute a binding oath, and that no expiation is due for it. (This is the view of Mālik, Abū Hanīfa, al-Shāfi‘ī, and Ahmad according to one of the two reports from him. According to another report from Ahmad, such an oath is binding.)

Section

“The Second Type”

The oaths of Muslims. If someone swears by Allah’s name, such oaths are binding according to explicit scriptural texts and scholarly consensus, and expiation is due if he breaks them.

If he swears by an obligation he undertakes before Allah—as in oaths involving vows, zihār (declaring one’s wife to be like one’s mother), declarations of unlawfulness, divorce, or emancipation—for example, saying:

“If I do such-and-such, I must perform ten Hajj pilgrimages”; or, “Then my property is to be given in charity”; or, “I must fast for a month”; or, “Then my wives are divorced”; or, “My slaves are free”; or saying:

“What is lawful is forbidden to me; I shall not do such-and-such”; or