a place of business for buying and selling, actually conducts those transactions himself, and is not known to have disavowed them, then the oath falls upon him whenever someone plausibly claims to have traded with him or lent him money.

By contrast, a person who is not in that position—such as a modest, secluded woman, or a discreet man who keeps himself apart from the claimant and has no regular dealings or physical contact with him—is not required to swear unless some prior interaction is proven.

Our legal maxim states that if a person advances a claim that is, for the most part, improbable or impossible, he is deemed a liar and his word is rejected.

ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Sufyān narrated to us; he said: Qāsim ibn Aṣbagh narrated to us; he said: Naṣr ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; he said: Qabīṣah ibn ʿUqbah narrated to us; he said: Sufyān narrated to us from Samāk ibn Ḥarb, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When Jacob was handed Joseph’s shirt and found no tear in it, he said, “You are lying; had a wolf devoured him it would have torn his shirt.”

ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Sufyān also narrated to us; he said: Qāsim ibn Aṣbagh narrated to us; he said: Muḍar narrated to us; he said: al-Faṣl ibn Dukayn narrated to us; he said: Zakarīyā ibn Abī Zāʾidah narrated to us from ʿĀmir al-Shaʿbī, who said: There were three signs bound up with Joseph’s shirt: first, when it was torn from the back; second, when it was cast over his father’s face and his sight was restored; and third, when they brought it stained with blood yet without a rip—at which Jacob realized their story was false, for if a wolf had eaten him it would have shredded the shirt.

This is further supported by the words of Allah: “If his shirt is torn from the front, then she has spoken the truth and he is one of the liars; but if his shirt is torn from the back, then she has lied and he is one of the truthful.” (Qur’an 12:26–27)

What we have cited here constitutes a guiding principle for this matter and for everything that resembles it—Allah knows best.

Ismāʿīl reported to us; he said: Ibn Abī Uways narrated to us from Abū al-Zinād, from his father, who said: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz used to say, “By Allah, I shall not …”