Chapter: The Disapproval of Swearing in Buying and Selling, Even When One Is Truthful

1720 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “Swearing makes a product sell but obliterates the blessing of the profit.” Agreed upon.

1721 – Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “Beware of frequent swearing in trade; it promotes the merchandise, yet in the end it destroys (the blessing of) the gain.” Narrated by Muslim.

[Commentary]

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—states in his Riyad al-Salihin: “Chapter on the disapproval of swearing during commerce, even if one is truthful.” In other words, a person is discouraged from taking an oath when buying or selling, even while telling the truth. For example, it is disliked to say, “By Allah, I bought it for one hundred,” even if that is accurate. Should he be lying, the wrongdoing is compounded—Allah’s protection is sought. If he says, “By Allah, I bought it for one hundred,” when in fact he paid only eighty, the sin is far worse, for he has lied while swearing in a sales transaction—something the Prophet ﷺ prohibited. He stated, as in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, that such an oath “makes the goods sell but erases the profit,” meaning that although the price may rise through swearing, Allah removes its blessing and wipes out the gain, because that profit is founded upon