And in another wording: "Whoever swears (24) that he is free from Islam, then if he is lying, he is as he has said, and if he is truthful, he will not return to Islam in a sound state." Recorded by Abu Dawud (25). As for Allah's swearing by His creations, He only swore by them as a sign of His power and greatness; and it is for Allah, the Almighty, to swear by whatever He wishes of His creation, and there is no basis for drawing an analogy upon His swearing. It has been said: That (26) in His swearing, there is an implicit oath by the Lord of these creations. Thus, His saying: "{By the morning brightness}" (27) means: And by the Lord of the morning brightness. As for the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: "He has succeeded, by his father, [if he is truthful] (28)," Ibn 'Abd al-Barr said: This wording is not preserved from a sound source; Malik and others among the hadith masters (al-huffaz) narrated it without including those words in it. As for the hadith of Abu al-'Ushara', Ahmad said: "If it were only established," meaning that it is not established, and for this reason, the jurists have not acted upon it in permitting slaughtering in the thigh. Furthermore, even if it were established, the manifest implication is that the prohibition came after it; because Umar had been swearing by it just as the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had sworn by it, then he was prohibited from swearing by it, and no permission came after (29) the prohibition. This is why Umar said, while narrating the hadith after the death of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him: "I have not sworn by it, neither as a narrator nor reporting it from another." Furthermore, if swearing by other than Allah is not forbidden, then it is disliked (makruh). If one swears, let him ask Allah, the Almighty, for forgiveness, or let him mention Allah, the Almighty, as the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "Whoever swears by al-Lat and al-'Uzza, let him say: 'La ilaha illa Allah' (There is no god but Allah)," because swearing by other than Allah is a sin, and a good deed wipes out a sin. Allah, the Almighty, has said: "{Indeed, good deeds remove evil deeds}" (30). And the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "If you commit a sin, follow it with a good deed that will wipe it out" (31). Also, because whoever swears by other than Allah has aggrandized someone other than Allah with an aggrandizement that resembles the aggrandizement of the Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He; and for this reason, it is called shirk, because he has associated someone other than Allah with Allah, the Almighty, in aggrandizing him through the oath taken by him, so he says: "La ilaha illa Allah" (There is no god but Allah), as a declaration of the oneness (tawhid) of Allah, the Almighty, and an act of disavowal from shirk. Al-Shafi'i said: Whoever swears by other than Allah, the Almighty, let him say: "I seek forgiveness from Allah."