And He said: {Provide for them out of it} (7). And He said: {To the believers, He is full of pity, most merciful} (8). If one intends by this the name of Allah the Almighty, or uses it absolutely, it is an oath, because its absolute usage refers to Him. If he intends by it someone other than (9) Allah the Almighty, it is not an oath, because it is used for others, so it is directed by intention to what he intended. This is the school of al-Shafi'i. Talha al-'Aquli said (10): If he says: "By the Lord, the Creator, and the Provider," it is an oath in all cases, like the first, because these terms are not used with the definite article "al" except for the name of Allah, so they resemble the first category. The third category is that which is used to name Allah the Almighty as well as others, and does not refer to Him by absolute usage, such as: "al-Hayy" (the Living), "al-'Alim" (the Knowing), "al-Mawjud" (the Existing), "al-Mu'min" (the Believer), "al-Karim" (the Generous), and "al-Shakir" (the Grateful). If he intends by this an oath using the name of Allah the Almighty, it is an oath. If he uses it absolutely, or intends someone other than Allah the Almighty, it is not an oath. Thus, this category and the one before it differ in the state of absolute usage; in the first it is an oath, and in the second it is not an oath. Al-Qadi and al-Shafi'i said regarding this category: It is not an oath, even if he intends by it the name of Allah the Almighty, because an oath is only binding due to the sanctity of the name, and with ambiguity, it has no sanctity, and an oath cannot be formed by pure intention. Our position is that he has sworn by the name of Allah the Almighty, intending by it to take an oath, so it is a binding oath, like the category before it. Regarding their statement that "an oath cannot be formed by pure intention," we agree with this, and that which is formed by pure intention is only formed by the potential name, which is meant to be the name of Allah the Almighty, for intention shifts an ambiguous expression to one of its possibilities, making it like an explicit statement, just like allusions (kinayat) and others. This is why if he intended something other than Allah the Almighty by the category before it, it would not be an oath, because of his intention.

Section: Swearing by the attributes of Allah the Almighty is like swearing by His names. His attributes are also divided into three categories: The first is that which is an attribute of the Essence of Allah the Almighty, which does not allow for anything else, such as the Honor of Allah the Almighty, His Greatness, His Majesty, His Pride, and His Speech. Oaths are binding by these in the view of all of them.