Thus, whatever people intend to do or refrain from doing, if it is something Allah and His Messenger have commanded, Allah commands it and commands helping others to carry it out. If it is something Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, Allah forbids it and forbids helping others to carry it out. If it is permissible, a good intention makes it an act of obedience, a bad intention makes it a sin, and the absence of either makes it neither. Accordingly, with oaths, vows, conditions, and contracts, Islamic law invariably invalidates whatever conflicts with the command of Allah and His Messenger. However, if a person has linked those matters to his faith in Allah, expiation is prescribed to efface the consequences of this undertaking. Otherwise, it would entail sin if he broke his oath; hence the term hinth (oath-breaking). Allah Most High says:

“And do not make Allah, through your oaths, an obstacle to doing good, being mindful of Him, and making peace between people.”

Reports from the Companions, the Successors, and others have been transmitted in such abundance as to establish that this verse means that none of you should swear not to do good, fear Allah, or maintain ties of kinship, and then, when instructed to do so, say, “I have sworn by Allah,” thereby making an oath by Allah an obstacle to obeying Allah and His Messenger. Since He, glorified be He, has forbidden making Allah—that is, swearing by Allah—an obstacle to obeying Him, it is all the more fitting that anything else should be forbidden from becoming an obstacle to obeying Allah. All oaths recognized by Islamic law that entail expiation ultimately amount to swearing by Allah, as we shall explain, if Allah Most High wills.

Our purpose here, however, is simply to mention some reports. Abū Bakr al-Athram said in his Sunan:

I heard Abū Abd Allāh Ahmad ibn Hanbal being asked about a man who had declared that his wealth was pledged to the Kaaba.