because by breaking this vow, one of two things becomes incumbent upon him: either the expiation (kaffarah) or the walking [to the market]. Thus, the breach has become a cause for a right against him. According to this, he would be a Muli (one who performs Ila') even by vowing to perform permissible acts or sins, for a vow of disobedience necessitates an expiation according to the zahir (apparent) view of the school. Even if we concede [that point], the difference between them is that walking is not made obligatory by a vow, unlike our issue. If he makes an exception (istithna') in his oath, he is not a Muli according to the opinion of everyone, because no expiation is binding upon him for the breach, so the breach does not cause a right to be incumbent upon him. This applies if the oath is by Allah, the Almighty, or is an oath that requires expiation. As for divorce and manumission, whoever considers the exception in them as having no effect, then its presence is like its absence, and he would be a Muli by them, whether he made an exception or did not make one.

Section: The second condition is that he swears to abstain from intercourse for more than four months. This is the opinion of Ibn Abbas, Tawus, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Malik, al-Awza'i, al-Shafi'i, Abu Thawr, and Abu 'Ubayd. 'Ata', al-Thawri, and the scholars of reason (Ashab al-Ra'y) said: If he swears for four months or more, he is a Muli. Al-Qadi and Abu al-Husayn narrated this as a report from Ahmad, because he is prevented from intercourse by the oath for four months, so he is a Muli, just as if he had sworn for a longer period. Al-Nakha'i, Qatada, Hammad, Ibn Abi Layla, and Ishaq said: Whoever swears to abstain from intercourse for a short or long time, and leaves her for four months, he is a Muli; because of the saying of Allah, the Almighty: "Those who take an oath of abstinence (Ila') from their wives shall wait four months." This is a Muli; for Ila' is the oath, and this man is an oath-taker. We argue that he has not prevented himself from intercourse by the oath for more than four months, so he is not a Muli, just as if he had sworn to refrain from kissing her. The verse is an argument for us; because He allowed him a waiting period (tarabbus) of four months, so if he swears for four months or less, there is no meaning to the waiting period, as the duration of Ila' would expire before that or upon its expiration. Defining the waiting period as four months implies that he is in a duration covered by it.