remained prevented by the oath from entering the house. Our position is that his oath is suspended upon a condition, so he is not a swearer before it, and thus he is not a Muli. Furthermore, it is possible for him to have intercourse without breaking the oath, so he is not a Muli, just as if he had said nothing. Being a Muli does not result in anything being incumbent upon him; rather, it becomes incumbent only upon the breach of the oath. If he says, "By Allah, I will not have intercourse with you during the year except once," he does not become a Muli in the present; because he can have intercourse whenever he wishes without breaking the oath, so he is not prevented from intercourse by the ruling of his oath. However, if he has intercourse with her while more than four months of the year remain, he becomes a Muli. This is the opinion of Abu Thawr, the People of Opinion (Ahl al-Ra'y), and the manifest view of the Shafi'i school. In his old opinion, he is a Muli from the outset, due to what we mentioned in the preceding case, and we have already responded to that. If he says, "By Allah, I will not have intercourse with you for a year except for a day," it is the same. Abu Hanifa held this view; because the day is indefinite and is not specified to one day over another. Similarly, if he says, "I have fasted Ramadan except for a day," it does not specify the last day. If he says, "I will not speak to you during the year except for a day," it does not specify one day of it. There is another view that he becomes a Muli in the present, which is the opinion of Zufar; because the excepted day is taken from the end of the duration, like a deferment (ta'jil) or a period of option (khiyar), unlike his saying, "I will not have intercourse with you during the year except once," for the "once" does not specify a particular time. Those who supported the first view distinguished between this and a deferment or a period of option, in that for a deferment and a period of option, continuity (muwalat) is mandatory in both, and it is not permissible for a day to intervene in them that has neither a deferment nor an option. This is because if a demand were permissible for him during the period of deferment, the repayment of the debt would become mandatory, and the deferment would be voided entirely; and if the contract became binding during the period of option, it would not return to being optional. Thus, it was determined to make the excepted day from the end of the period, unlike the case we are in, for the permissibility of intercourse on a day from the beginning or middle of the year does not prevent the establishment of the ruling of the oath for the remainder of the period. Therefore, it becomes like his saying, "I will not have intercourse with you in the year except once." And Allah knows best.

Section: If he says, "By Allah, I will not have intercourse with you for a year," then he says, "By Allah, I will not have intercourse with you for a year," it is one Ila'.