If he does it. Then he performs [the act], he has a choice: if he wishes, he refrains from what he forbade for himself, and if he wishes, he performs expiation. If he says: "This food is forbidden to me," it is like an oath to abstain from it. Something similar is narrated from Ibn Mas'ud, al-Hasan, Jabir ibn Zayd, Qatadah, Ishaq, and the people of Iraq. Sa'id ibn Jubayr said regarding one who says: "What is lawful for me is forbidden to me": It is one of the oaths, for which he must perform expiation. Al-Hasan said: It is an oath, unless he intends the divorce of his wife. Ibrahim narrated the same. From him also: If he intends divorce, [it is so], otherwise it is nothing. From al-Dahhak, that Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and Ibn Mas'ud said: The forbidden is an oath of divorce. Tawus said: It is what he intended. Malik and al-Shafi'i said: It is not an oath, and nothing is binding upon him, because he intended to change what is ordained by law, so what he intended is void, just as if he had said: "This is my stepdaughter." Our position is the words of Allah Almighty: "O Prophet, why do you prohibit what Allah has made lawful for you?" up to His saying: "Allah has already ordained for you the dissolution of your oaths." He named the prohibition of what Allah has made lawful an oath, and ordained for it a dissolution, which is expiation. 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would stay with Zaynab bint Jahsh and drink honey at her place. Hafsah and I agreed that whichever of us the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, entered upon, she should say: "I perceive in you the smell of Maghafir." He entered upon one of us, and she said that to him, so he said: "No, rather I drank honey at the place of Zaynab bint Jahsh, and I will never return to it." Then it was revealed: "O Prophet, why do you prohibit what Allah has made lawful for you, seeking the approval of your wives?" This is agreed upon. If it is said: The verse was only revealed regarding the prohibition of Mariyah the Copt...
(1) Omitted from the Original and A. (2) Its authentication was previously mentioned in 10/396. (3) Surah al-Tahrim 1, 2. (4) Maghafir: the plural of maghfur, which is a sweet gum like natoof (a kind of syrup), and it has a foul smell; it is exuded by a tree called al-'Arfat. (5) In M: "fa-nazala" (it was revealed). (6) Not in the Original, A, or B: "seeking the approval of your wives". (7) Narrated by al-Bukhari, in: The Chapter of Surah al-Tahrim, from the Book of Tafsir; and in: The Chapter "Why do you prohibit what Allah has made lawful for you?" from the Book of Divorce; and in: The Chapter "If he forbids his food" from the Book of Oaths and Vows. Sahih al-Bukhari 6/194, 7/56, 57, 8/175, 176. And Muslim, in: The Chapter on the Obligation of Expiation upon one who forbids his wife..., from the Book of Divorce. Sahih Muslim 2/1100-1103. It was also narrated by Abu Dawud, in: The Chapter on Honey Drink, from the Book of Drinks. Sunan Abi Dawud 2/301. And al-Nasa'i, in: The Chapter of the Interpretation of this verse, i.e., "O Prophet, why do you prohibit what Allah has made lawful for you?", from the Book of Divorce; and in: The Chapter of Forbidding what Allah Almighty has made lawful, from the Book of Oaths and Vows; and in: The Chapter of Jealousy, from the Book of Women's Relations. Al-Mujtaba 6/123, 7/13, 66. And Imam Ahmad, in: al-Musnad 6/221.
