such as ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, whose eminence, understanding of the religion, and piety are unanimously acknowledged; his sister Hafsah, Mother of the Believers; and Zaynab, the stepdaughter of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who was among the foremost female jurists of the Companions—to the effect that an oath invoking the emancipation of a slave may be expiated. This applies all the more to divorce.

We have also cited the view of Tāwūs, one of the most distinguished scholars among the Successors in knowledge, jurisprudence, and piety: he did not consider an oath of divorce to bring about divorce.

Thus, if divorce necessarily taking effect upon the breaking of such an oath leads to these evils, while its standing in Islamic law is as described, this is evidence that whatever leads to such corruption was not legislated by Allah or His Messenger. We have drawn attention to this concerning contracts for gardens undertaken by those who cultivate them, obtain their produce, and sell vegetables and the like.

For when someone swears an oath of divorce that he will sever his ties of kinship, mistreat his father, kill a Muslim enemy whose life is inviolable, commit sexual immorality, drink wine, separate a man from his wife, or commit similar grave sins and shameful deeds, he faces “three alternatives.”

Either he carries out what he has sworn to do—something no Muslim would advocate, because of the harm it brings in this world and the Hereafter. Yet many people, even muftis, regard his having sworn an oath of divorce as grounds for treating his conduct more leniently and considering him excused.