and let them pardon and overlook" (56). It is said that the meaning of His saying: {And let not those of virtue among you} is: let them not refrain [from giving]. This is because an oath regarding such acts is a barrier to performing an act of obedience or compels one to perform a disliked act, and is therefore disliked. If it is said: If it were disliked, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would have rebuked the Bedouin who asked him about the prayers and said: "Is there anything else upon me?" The Prophet said: "No, unless you offer voluntary (tatawwu') prayers." The Bedouin said: "By the One who sent you with the truth, I will neither increase nor decrease from this." The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not rebuke him, but rather said: "The man has succeeded if he is truthful" (57). We respond: This does not follow, for the oath to abandon them does not exceed the act of abandoning them, and if he were to abandon them, he would not be rebuked. It is sufficient in this regard to clarify that what he is abandoning is a voluntary act, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has already clarified this to him by his words: "Unless you offer voluntary prayers." Furthermore, if this oath contains the abandonment of a commendable act, it also encompasses the performance of the obligatory act and its complete preservation such that nothing of it is diminished. In terms of merit, this outweighs the abandonment of the voluntary act that counters it, so the side of affirmation through the oath takes precedence over the side of abandoning it, placing it in the category of the commendable, so how could it be rebuked! Moreover, affirming this oath provides clarification of a ruling that is needed, which is the clarification that one is not held accountable for abandoning voluntary acts. If he had rebuked the one who swore [to that] (58), the opposite would have occurred, and many people would have imagined that sin is attached to abandoning them (59), and the purpose would be lost. Among the category of the disliked is swearing in buying and selling, for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Swearing [falsely] promotes the sale but erases the blessing." Narrated by Ibn Majah (60). The fifth category is the prohibited (muharram), which is the lying oath, for Allah, the Almighty, condemned it by His saying