as commanded.

“Allah does not burden any soul beyond its capacity.”

This is like exercising independent judgment to determine the direction of prayer. If each group’s reasoning leads it to one of the four directions, they are all obeying Allah and His Messenger and duly performing the prayer. Yet whoever has identified the actual direction of prayer receives two rewards. Scholars are the heirs of the prophets. Allah Most High says:

“And remember David and Solomon, when they judged concerning the field in which some people’s sheep had grazed by night. We witnessed their judgment. We gave Solomon understanding of the matter, and to each We gave judgment and knowledge.”

Everyone who exercises independent judgment is correct in the sense that he is obeying Allah; nevertheless, in reality, the truth is only one.

The point here is that any oath for which Allah has prescribed expiation may be expiated, however severely a person has bound himself by it. Even if he has undertaken not to expiate it, he may still do so. His undertaking not to expiate it is a commitment to prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have made lawful. No one may prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have made lawful; rather, he must offer expiation for his oath.

The person making such a stringent commitment dislikes its becoming binding upon him. The more stringent he makes it, the more he dislikes being bound by it. He undertook it only to restrain and deter himself, so that its binding force would prevent him from breaking his oath. He did not undertake it with the intention that it should become binding upon him when the condition was fulfilled, for such an intention contradicts the very nature of an oath. A person swears an oath only by undertaking something he dislikes occurring if he breaches it; and he never swears except by undertaking something he wishes to occur if he breaches it. Thus, no one swearing an oath says, “If I do such-and-such, may Allah forgive me,” or, “May He cause me to die as a Muslim.” Rather, he says, “If I do