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The term “oath” in the Book of Allah, as well as in the language of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—who were the Quran’s first addressees, encompasses whatever one swears to by Allah, regardless of the wording used or which of His names is invoked. The same applies to swearing by His attributes, such as His might and . . ., and His rulings, such as prohibition and obligation, for prohibition and obligation are among His rulings.

When someone says, “I swear by Allah that it shall indeed be so,” he has committed himself to that action, making it obligatory or forbidden for himself, and has bound his oath by Allah. He has thus tied the binding force of the action to Allah so that it cannot be undone or broken. In itself, his oath therefore entails either that the action is binding upon him or that his faith in Allah, by whom he bound the oath, is nullified. Since the latter is not an option for him, the former necessarily follows.

However, in our religious law, the Lawgiver has not granted a person unrestricted authority to declare things forbidden or obligatory for himself. Rather, He has prescribed a means of release from his oath and an expiation that removes the liability for sin arising from breaking it, when breaking the oath and offering expiation is better than keeping it.

The jurists have differed over whether an oath entails an obligation or prohibition that is lifted by expiation; whether it entails neither; or whether it would entail these were it not for an impediment established by the Sacred Law that prevents this consequence. These are three views. The third is the soundest, as we shall point out, if Allah Most High wills.