means of bringing it about. Likewise, hoping for Allah’s mercy and fearing His punishment are among the greatest means of escaping His punishment and attaining His mercy.

Qualifying a statement with “if Allah wills” applies both to purely declarative statements and to statements that also convey a directive.

The first is when someone swears to a declarative statement, intending neither to urge an action nor to prevent it, but merely to affirm or deny something, as when he says: “By Allah, such-and-such will surely happen, if Allah wills,” or, “Such-and-such will not happen.” The person adding this qualification may know that the event will or will not occur, as in His words:

“You will surely enter.”

Here, the clause answering the oath is not omitted.

The second is a statement that conveys a directive, as when someone says: “By Allah, I will certainly do such-and-such—or will not do it—if Allah wills.” Its form is declarative, but he has invested it with the force of a directive. He has not said, “By Allah, I desire this,” nor that he is resolved upon it. Rather, he has said: “By Allah, it will surely happen.” If it does not happen, he has broken his oath, because events have turned out contrary to what he swore would happen; his oath is thus broken. But when he says, “If Allah wills,” he has sworn to it only on the condition that Allah wills it, not unconditionally.

For this reason, many jurists hold that whenever what a person swore would happen fails to happen, he has broken his oath; likewise, whenever he does what he swore not to do, he has broken his oath—whether he acted forgetfully, mistakenly, or in ignorance. They regard this as having the force of a declaration: if events turn out contrary to what he stated, he has broken his oath.

Others, however, say that its purpose is to urge or restrain, like a command or prohibition. When someone is forbidden to do something but does it forgetfully or mistakenly, he has not disobeyed; the same applies here.