| OATHS IN
THE QUR'AN
FOR WHICH OATHS WILL PEOPLE BE TAKEN TO TASK?
Allah will not take you to task for inadvertent statements in your oaths,
but He will take you to task for the intention your hearts have made.
Allah is Ever-Forgiving, All-Forbearing. (Surat al-Baqara, 225)
INADVERTENT OATHS
Allah does not take you to task for your inadvertent
oaths, but He will take you to task for oaths you make intentionally.
The expiation in that case is to feed ten poor people with the average
amount you feed your family, or clothe them, or free a slave. Anyone without
the means to do so should fast three days. That is the expiation for breaking
oaths when you have sworn them. Keep your oaths. In this way Allah makes
His Signs clear to you, so that hopefully you will be thankful. (Surat
al-Ma'ida, 89)
OATH WHILE TESTIFYING AND MAKING ONE'S WILL
And to every one We have appointed heirs of what parents
and near relatives leave; and as to those with whom your rights hands
have ratified agreements, give them their portion; surely Allah is a witness
over all things. (Surat an-Nisa', 33)
You who believe! When one of you is near to death and
makes a will, two just men from among you should act as witnesses; or,
if you are travelling when the misfortune of death occurs, two men who
are strangers to you. You should detain them after prayer and, if you
are doubtful, they should swear by Allah: 'We will not sell it for any
price, even to a near relative, and we will not conceal the testimony
of Allah. If we did we would indeed be wrongdoers.' If it then comes to
light that the two of them have merited the allegation of wrongdoing,
two others who have the most right to do so should take their place and
swear by Allah: 'Our testimony is truer than their testimony. We have
not committed perjury. If we had we would indeed be wrongdoers.' That
makes it more likely that they will give their evidence properly or be
afraid that their oaths will be refuted by subsequent oaths. Have fear
of Allah and listen carefully. Allah does not guide deviant people. (Surat
al-Ma'ida, 106-108)
Those who make an accusation against their wives and
have no witnesses except themselves, such people should testify four times
by Allah that they are telling the truth. (Surat an-Nur, 6)
THOSE WHO MAKE THEIR OATHS AN EXCUSE
FOR NOT DOING GOOD
Do not, by your oaths, make Allah a pretext to avoid good action and
guarding against and putting things right between people. Allah is All-Hearing,
All-Knowing. (Surat al-Baqara, 224)
THOSE WHO MAKE THEIR OATHS A MEANS OF DECEIT
Do not be like a woman who spoils the thread she has
spun by unravelling it after it is strong, by making your oaths a means
of deceiving one another, merely because one community is bigger than
another. Allah is only testing you by this. He will make clear to you
on the Day of Rising the things about which you differed. (Surat an-Nahl,
92)
Do not make your oaths a means of deceiving one another
or your foot will slip after it was firmly placed and you will taste evil
for barring access to the Way of Allah and you will have a terrible punishment.
(Surat an-Nahl, 94)
THOSE WHO MAKE THEIR OATHS INTO A CLOAK
They made their oaths into a cloak and barred the Way
of Allah, so they will have a humiliating punishment. (Surat al-Mujadala,
16)
They have made their oaths into a cloak and barred the
Way of Allah. What they have done is truly evil. (Surat al-Munafiqun,
2)
THOSE WHO SELL THEIR OATHS FOR A SMALL PRICE
Those who sell Allah's contract and their own oaths for a paltry price,
such people will have no portion in the hereafter and on the Day of Rising
Allah will not speak to them or look at them or purify them. They will
have a painful punishment. (Surah Al 'Imran, 77)
THOSE WHO BREAK THEIR OATHS
If they break their oaths after making their treaty and
defame your religion, then fight the leaders of disbelief - they have
no binding oaths - so that hopefully they will stop. Will you not fight
a people who have broken their oaths and resolved to expel the Messenger,
and who initiated hostilities against you in the first place? Is it them
you fear? Allah has more right to your fear if you are believers. (Surat
at-Tawba, 12-13)
Be true to Allah's contract when you have agreed to it,
and do not break your oaths once they are confirmed and you have made
Allah your guarantee. Allah knows what you do. Do not be like a woman
who spoils the thread she has spun by unravelling it after it is strong,
by making your oaths a means of deceiving one another, merely because
one community is bigger than another. Allah is only testing you by this.
He will make clear to you on the Day of Rising the things about which
you differed. (Surat an-Nahl, 91-92)
THOSE WHO SWEAR TO FALSEHOOD
How will it be when a disaster strikes them because of
what they have done, and then they come to you swearing by Allah: 'We
desired nothing but good and reconciliation'? (Surat an-Nisa', 62)
Those who believe say, 'Are these the people who swore
by Allah, with their most earnest oaths, that they were with you?' Their
actions have come to nothing and they now are losers. (Surat al-Ma'ida,
53)
He (Satan) swore to them, 'I am one of those who give
you good advice.' (Surat al-A'raf, 21)
If it had been a case of easy gains and a short journey,
they would have followed you, but the distance was too great for them.
They will swear by Allah: 'Had we been able to, we would have gone out
with you.' They are destroying their own selves. Allah knows that they
are lying. (Surat at-Tawba, 42)
They swear to you by Allah in order to please you, but
it would be more fitting for them to please Allah and His Messenger if
they are believers. (Surat at-Tawba, 62)
They will swear to you by Allah when you return to them,
so that you leave them alone. Leave them alone, then! They are filth.
Their shelter will be Hell as repayment for what they did. They will swear
to you to make you pleased with them, but even if you are pleased with
them, Allah is certainly not pleased with deviant people. (Surat at-Tawba,
95-96)
They said, 'If a wolf does come and eat him up when together
we make up a powerful group in that case we would truly be in loss!' (Surah
Yusuf, 14)
They have sworn by Allah with their most earnest oaths
that if you give them the command, they will go out. Say: 'Do not swear.
Honourable obedience is enough. Allah is aware of what you do.' (Surat
an-Nur, 53)
They swore by Allah with their most earnest oaths that
if a warner came to them they would be better guided than any other community.
But then when a warner did come to them, it only increased their aversion.
(Surah Fatir, 42)
Do you not see those who have turned to people with whom
Allah is angry? They belong neither to you nor to them. And they swear
to falsehood and do so knowingly. (Surat al-Mujadala, 14)
On the Day Allah raises up all of them then together
they will swear to Him just as they have sworn to you and imagine they
have something to stand upon. No indeed! It is they who are the liars.
(Surat al-Mujadala, 18)
But do not obey any vile swearer of oaths. (Surat al-Qalam,
10)
THE INVALID OATHS OF DISBELIEVERS
Are these the people you swore that Allah's mercy would
never reach?' (To the Companions of the Garden) 'Enter the Garden. You
will feel no fear and know no sorrow.' (Surat al-A'raf, 49)
Or do you have oaths which bind Us, extending to the
Day of Rising, that you will have whatever you decide? (Surat al-Qalam,
39)
They swear by Allah with their most earnest oaths that
Allah will not raise up those who die, when, on the contrary, it is a
binding promise on Him; but most people do not know it. (Surat an-Nahl,
38)
We and our forefathers were promised this before. This
is nothing but the myths of previous peoples!' (Surat al-Mu'minun, 83)
THE OATH OF SATAN TO MISLEAD PEOPLE
He said, 'My Lord, because You misled me, I will make things on the earth
seem good to them and I will mislead them all, every one of them. (Surat
al-Hijr, 39)
THEY SWEAR THAT THEY ARE BELIEVERS EVEN
THOUGH THEY DO NOT BELIEVE
Do you not see those who have turned to people with whom
Allah is angry? They belong neither to you nor to them. And they swear
to falsehood and do so knowingly. (Surat al-Mujadala, 14)
They have sworn by Allah with their most earnest oaths
that if a Sign comes to them they will believe in it. Say: 'The Signs
are in Allah's control alone.' What will make you realise that even if
a Sign did come, they would still not believe? (Surat al-An'am, 109)
They swear by Allah that they are of your number, but
they are not of your number. Rather, they are people who are scared. (Surat
at-Tawba, 56)
As for those who have set up a mosque, causing harm and
out of disbelief, to create division between the believers, and in readiness
for those who previously made war on Allah and His Messenger, they will
swear, 'We only desired the best.' But Allah bears witness that they are
truly liars. (Surat at-Tawba, 107)
They swore by Allah with their most earnest oaths
that if a warner came to them they would be better guided than any other
community. But then when a warner did come to them, it only increased
their aversion. (Surat al-Fatir, 42)
THE DECREE REGARDING ONE'S SWEARING TO EQUATE
HIS WIFE WITH HIS MOTHER (ZIHAR)
Those of you who divorce your wives by equating them
with your mothers, they are not your mothers. Your mothers are only those
who gave birth to you. What you are saying is wrong and a slanderous lie.
But Allah is Ever-Pardoning, Ever-Forgiving. Those who divorce their wives
by equating them with their mothers, and then wish to go back on what
they said, must set free a slave before the two of them may touch one
another. This is what you are enjoined to do. Allah is aware of what you
do. (Surat al-Mujadala, 2-3)
Allah has not allotted to any man two hearts within his
breast, nor has He made those of your wives you equate with your mothers
your actual mothers, nor has He made your adopted sons your actual sons.
These are just words coming out of your mouths. But Allah speaks the truth
and He guides to the Way. (Surat al-Ahzab, 4)
THE DECREE REGARDING THOSE WHO SWEAR TO
ABSTAIN FROM THEIR WIVES
For those who take an oath for abstention from their wives, a waiting
for four months is ordained; if then they return, Allah is Ever-Forgiving,
Most Merciful. (Surat al-Baqara, 226)
THE EXPIATION OF OATHS
Allah has made the expiation of your oaths obligatory
for you. Allah is your Master - He is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. (Surat
at-Tahrim, 2)
Allah does not take you to task for your inadvertent
oaths, but He will take you to task for oaths you make intentionally.
The expiation in that case is to feed ten poor people with the average
amount you feed your family, or clothe them, or free a slave. Anyone without
the means to do so should fast three days. That is the expiation for breaking
oaths when you have sworn them. Keep your oaths. In this way Allah makes
His Signs clear to you, so that hopefully you will be thankful. (Surat
al-Ma'ida, 89)
THINGS THAT Allah SWEARS BY
By your Lord, We will question them all, every one of
them. (Surat al-Hijr, 92)
We know that your breast is constricted by what they
say. (Surat al-Hijr, 97)
By the Wise Qur'an. (Surah Ya Sin, 2)
By those drawn up in ranks, and by the warners crying
warning, and by the reciters of the Reminder: (Surat as-Saffat, 1-3)
Sād By the Qur'an holding the Remembrance. (Surah Sād,
1)
By the Book which makes things clear. (Surat az-Zukhruf,
2)
By the scatterers scattering, and those bearing weighty
loads, and those speeding along with ease, and those apportioning the
command. (Surat adh-Dhariyat, 1-4)
By Heaven with its oscillating orbits, (Surat adh-Dhariyat,
7)
By the Lord of heaven and earth, it is certainly the
truth, just as you have speech. (Surat adh-Dhariyat, 23)
By the Mount and an Inscribed Book on an Unfurled Scroll,
by the Visited House, by the Raised Canopy, by the Overflowing Ocean:
(Surat at-Tur, 1-6)
By the star when it descends, (Surat an-Najm, 1)
And I swear by the places of the stars - and that is
a mighty oath if you only knew - (Surat al-Waq'ia, 75-76)
Nun By the Pen and what they write down! (Surat al-Qalam,
1)
I swear both by what you see and what you do not see,
(Surat al-Haqqa, 38-39)
No! I swear by the Lord of the Easts and Wests that We
have the power. (Surat al-Ma'arij, 40)
No indeed! By the moon and the night when it withdraws
and the dawn when it grows bright, (Surat al-Muddaththir, 32-34)
No! I swear by the Day of Rising! No! I swear by the
self-reproaching self. (Surat al-Qiyama, 1-2)
By those sent forth in succession, by the violently gusting
blasts, by the scatterers scattering, by the winnowers winnowing, by those
hurling a reminder, (Surat al-Mursalat, 1-5)
By those who pluck out harshly, and those who draw out
gently, and those who glide serenely, and those who outrun easily, and
those who direct affairs. (Surat an-Nazi'at, 1-5)
No! I swear by the planets with their retrograde motion,
swiftly moving, self-concealing, and by the night when it draws in, and
by the dawn when it exhales, (Surat at-Takwir, 15-18)
No, I swear by the evening glow, and the night and all
it shrouds, and the moon when it is full, (Surat al-Inshiqaq, 16-18)
By Heaven with its Houses of the Zodiac, and the Promised
Day, and the witness and the witnessed, (Surat al-Buruj, 1-3)
By Heaven and the Night-Comer! And what will convey to
you what the Night-Comer is? The Piercing Star! (Surat at-Tariq, 1-3)
By Heaven with its cyclical systems and the earth with
its splitting seeds. (Surat at-Tariq, 11-12)
By the dawn and ten nights, and the even and odd, and
the night when it travels on, is there not in that an oath for the intelligent?
(Surat al-Fajr, 1-5)
I swear by this city - and you are resident in this city
- and by a father and what he fathered, (Surat al-Balad, 1-3)
By the sun and its morning brightness, and the moon when
it follows it, and the day when it displays it, and the night when it
conceals it and the sky and what erected it and the earth and what extended
it. and the self and what proportioned it and inspired it with depravity
or its sense of duty. (Surat ash-Shams, 1-8)
By the night when it conceals and the day when it reveals
and the creation of male and female, there is a vast difference in your
striving. (Surat al-Layl, 1-4)
By the morning brightness and the night when it covers
with darkness, (Surat ad-Duha, 1-2)
By the fig and the olive and Mount Sinai and this safe
land, (Surat at-Tin, 1-3)
By the charging horses panting hard, striking sparks
from their flashing hooves, raiding at full gallop in the early dawn,
leaving a trailing dust-cloud in their wake, cleaving through the middle
of the foe, (Surat al-'Adiyat, 1-5)
Through the ages, (Surat al-'Asr, 1)
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