it. It is therefore a matter of dispute, as explained earlier. Their disagreement must be referred to Allah and His Messenger, and each party must present his evidence, as in other disputed matters. By the consensus of the Muslims, this is not a matter warranting punishment. Rather, anyone who punishes someone for it is transgressing, ignorant and unjust. For the person who holds this view has said what scholars have said, while the person who censures him has no transmitted evidence—from either the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, or the Companions—that must be followed.

It has been established that swearing by anyone other than Allah is impermissible, whether by the prophets or anyone else, as has already been explained at length. The scholars have also agreed that no one may make a vow to anyone other than Allah, whether a prophet or anyone else, and that such a vow constitutes shirk and must not be fulfilled. Likewise, swearing by created beings does not constitute a binding oath, and no expiation is required for it. Even if someone swears by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, his oath is not binding, as mentioned earlier, and no expiation is required of him according to the majority of scholars, including Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Hanīfah and Ahmad, according to one of the two positions reported from him. Indeed, swearing such an oath was forbidden. If a person may neither swear such an oath nor use it to adjure a created being, how can he use it to adjure the Creator, exalted be His majesty?

As for petitioning Allah by a created being without adjuring Him by that being, this too is something that more than one scholar has forbidden. The authentic Sunnah of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his rightly guided caliphs supports this prohibition. For a person does this only on the understanding that it is an act of drawing near to Allah and of obedience to Him, and that it is a means by which supplication is answered. Anything of this kind must be either obligatory or recommended.