or otherwise, to do or to leave something—that is the binding of oaths (6) for which Allah has made atonement obligatory (7). Al-Thawri said in his "Jami'": Oaths are of four types; two oaths require atonement: when a man says, "By Allah, I will not do [something]," and then he does it, or he says, "By Allah, I will do [something]," and then he does not do it. And two oaths do not require atonement: when he says, "By Allah, I did not do it," when he actually did, or he says, "By Allah, I have done it," when he did not.

1783 - Issue: He said: (And the oath that requires atonement is for one to swear by Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, or by one of His names.)

Scholars have reached consensus that whoever swears by Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, by saying "Wallahi" (By Allah), "Billahi" (By Allah), or "Tallahi" (By Allah), and then breaks his oath, atonement is required of him. Ibn al-Mundhir stated: Malik, al-Shafi'i, Abu 'Ubayd, Abu Thawr, and the people of opinion (Ashab al-Ra'y) used to say: Whoever swears by one of the names of Allah the Almighty and breaks his oath, atonement is required of him (1). We are not aware of any disagreement regarding this when it is one of the names of Allah the Almighty that is used for no one else. The names of Allah are divided into three categories: The first is that which is not used to name (2) anyone else, such as His saying: "Wallahi," "al-Rahman" (the Most Merciful), "al-Awwal" (the First) before whom there is nothing, "al-Akhir" (the Last) after whom there is nothing, "Rabb al-'Alamin" (Lord of the Worlds), "Malik Yawm al-Din" (Master of the Day of Judgment), "Rabb al-Samawat wa al-Ard" (Lord of the Heavens and the Earth), and "al-Hayy" (the Ever-Living) who does not die, and the like. Swearing by this is an oath in all cases. The second is that which is used to name others besides Allah the Almighty metaphorically, and its absolute usage refers to Allah the Glorified, such as: "al-Khaliq" (the Creator), "al-Raziq" (the Provider), "al-Rabb" (the Lord), "al-Rahim" (the Merciful), "al-Qadir" (the Capable), "al-Qahir" (the Subduer), "al-Malik" (the King), "al-Jabbar" (the Compeller), and the like. This is used to name others besides Allah metaphorically, based on the evidence of Allah's saying: {and you create a falsehood} (3), {And you abandon the best of creators} (4), His saying: {Return to your lord} (5), {Mention me to your lord} (6), and {But Satan made him forget the mention of his lord} (6).