in your oaths}. Its meaning is: Do not let your oaths by Allah be an obstacle preventing you from righteousness, piety, and reconciling between people. This refers to a person swearing by Allah that he will not perform an act of righteousness, piety, or reconcile between people, and then refraining from doing so in order to be truthful in his oath and not violate it; thus, they were forbidden from persisting in that. Ahmad said, mentioning the hadith of Ibn Abbas with his chain of narration regarding the saying of Allah, the Almighty: {And do not make Allah an obstacle in your oaths}: It is a man who swears that he will not uphold ties of kinship, yet Allah has provided him with a way out through expiation. He was commanded not to use Allah as an excuse, but rather to perform the expiation (41) and to fulfill the righteousness (42). The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "For one of you to persist (43) in his oath is more sinful for him before Allah than to perform the expiation that Allah has ordained for him." Agreed upon (44). The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, also said: "If you have sworn an oath and then see something else as better than it, do that which is better and make expiation for your oath." And he said: "By Allah, I do not swear an oath and then see something else as better than it, except that I perform that which is better and release myself from it." Both are agreed upon (45). If the prohibition pertains to the oath, then what is forbidden is swearing to abandon righteousness, piety, and reconciliation between people, not every oath; therefore, there is no argument for them in that case.
Section: Oaths are divided into five categories. The first is obligatory (wajib), which is one by which an innocent human being is saved from destruction, as was narrated from Suwayd ibn Hanzalah, who said: We set out intending to go to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and Wā'il ibn Hujr was with us. An enemy of his seized him, and the people felt uneasy about swearing [a false oath to save him], so I swore that he was my brother. I mentioned that to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "You spoke the truth; the Muslim is the brother of the Muslim."
(41) In M: "let him perform the expiation." (42) Recorded by al-Bayhaqi, in: The Chapter of One Who Swears an Oath and Then Sees Something Better Than It..., from the Book of Oaths. Al-Sunan al-Kubra 10/33. (43) Meaning: he persists in his stubbornness and does not turn toward that which is better than his oath. (44) Recorded by al-Bukhari, in: The Chapter of the Saying of Allah, the Almighty: {Allah will not impose blame upon you for what is unintentional in your oaths...} the verse, from the Book of Oaths and Vows. Sahih al-Bukhari 8/160. And Muslim, in: The Chapter of the Prohibition of Persisting in an Oath..., from the Book of Oaths. Sahih Muslim 3/1276. It was also recorded by Ibn Majah, in: The Chapter of the Prohibition of a Man Persisting in His Oath and Not Performing Expiation, from the Book of Expiations. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/683. And by Imam Ahmad, in: al-Musnad 2/278, 317. (45) The citation has been previously provided, in: 11/39.
