to urge and restrain. He urges himself or the person concerning whom he swears, and restrains himself or that person. This is thus a command or prohibition reinforced by an oath. Breaking such an oath is like disobeying a command given without an oath.

It is well established in Islamic law that someone who does a prohibited act forgetfully, or mistakenly believing that it is not the prohibited act—as with those who adopt a tenable interpretation—is neither sinful nor disobedient. Allah has answered the believers’ supplication:

“Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make a mistake.”

Likewise, someone who forgets the oath, or believes that what he has done is not what the oath concerned, owing to an interpretation or a mistake, such as mishearing or the like, has not contravened the oath and therefore has not broken it. In this respect, there is no difference between an oath sworn by Allah Most High and other kinds of oaths. The rulings governing oaths differ according to what is sworn by, but not according to what is sworn about. The discussion here concerns what is sworn about, not what is sworn by.

It is also well known that someone who swears on pain of divorce or emancipation has not made a purely conditional declaration, such as one contingent upon sunrise. Nor does he intend both the condition and its consequence to occur, as with a vow of pious devotion or a declaration conditional upon compensation, such as a divorce granted in return for compensation. Rather, his purpose is to urge himself or restrain the person concerning whom he swore, and to restrain himself or that person, just as someone making a vow out of obstinacy or anger intends to do.

For this reason, the jurists agree on calling this an oath. The correct position in the school of Ahmad and others is that an exception clause may validly be appended to it. This differs from a purely conditional declaration, which is a pronouncement with deferred effect and, according to the correct view, is not an oath. An exception clause is of no avail in such a declaration according to those who do not allow such clauses in pronouncements that themselves bring about a legal effect, such as Mālik, Ahmad, and others. And Allah knows best.