The “second view,” held by the majority, is that he does not incur what he has pledged, whether disbelief or anything else, just as he does not incur it through an oath concerning the future. In both cases, his sole intention was to swear an oath. If he was lying, he did not intend to become a disbeliever or to incur what he had pledged, whether a vow, divorce, manumission, or anything else—just as he did not intend to incur these consequences if he broke an oath concerning the future.

Rather, the true meaning and purpose of his words in both cases is to swear an oath. Whatever distinction is drawn in one case between disbelief, a vow, divorce, or manumission themselves and swearing an oath invoking them must also be drawn in the other. In both cases, however, he has committed a major sin by swearing a deliberately false oath. He must therefore repent to Allah of it, just as he repents of other major sins. When he repents of the sin, he becomes like one who has no sin. No disbelief, vow, divorce, or manumission results from it; he has merely sworn an oath invoking these things. And Allah knows best.