to Allah. But when he is swearing an oath, he does not intend to make a pledge to Allah; rather, he intends to swear by it. If he breaks his oath and does not fulfil it, he has abandoned what he pledged to Allah, just as, if he performs the act sworn about, he has abandoned what he pledged to Allah.

“This is clarified as follows:”

When someone swears by Allah, or by something other than Allah that he honours by swearing by it, he does so only to bind the matter sworn about to that by which he swears. His reverence for it in his heart means that, once he has bound something by it, he will not undo that bond. If he does undo what he has bound by it, his reverence for it in his heart has diminished, and he has severed the bond between himself and it.

As some have said:

“An oath is a binding commitment one imposes upon oneself in recognition of the right of one who has a right over him.”

Thus, a deliberately false oath is among the major sins that incur the Fire, as Allah Most High says:

“Indeed, those who exchange Allah’s covenant and their oaths for a small price will have no share in the Hereafter. Allah will neither speak to them nor look at them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them; and they will have a painful punishment.”

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also included it when enumerating the major sins. This is because, when someone deliberately binds something by Allah when it is not truly so bound, he impairs the bond between himself and his Lord. He is like someone who attributes to Allah something of which He is entirely free, or who disavows Allah. This differs from swearing about the future: in that case, he binds an action by Allah, intending to make that commitment out of reverence for Him. Allah, however, has permitted him to dissolve the commitment he has made, just as He permits him to leave certain obligations unfulfilled because of a need, or removes their obligatory character for him.

For this reason, most scholars have said that if someone says, “I am a Jew or a Christian if I do not do that,” this constitutes an oath equivalent to saying, “By Allah, I shall certainly do it,” because he has linked the non-performance