Oaths can only be sworn by the name or attribute of Allah.
Linguistic Explanation: The word أيمان is the plural of Yamin. It means “oath, power, and right hand.”
[Al-Munjid: p. 1037, Lisan al-Arab: 457/15]
Technical Definition: It is the name of a strong contract through which the one swearing resolves to perform or abandon an action.
[Al-Mabsut: 126/8, Fath al-Qadeer: 2/4, Tabyin al-Haqaiq: 106/3]
Legitimacy: Allah Almighty Himself has sworn oaths and has also commanded His Prophet to do so.
➊ وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَىٰ [Al-Lail: 1]
“By the night when it covers.”
➋ وَالشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا [Ash-Shams: 1]
“By the sun and its brightness.”
➌ وَالْفَجْرِ - وَلَيَالٍ عَشْرٍ [Al-Fajr: 1-2]
“By the dawn and ten nights.”
➍ وَالتِّينِ وَالزَّيْتُونِ [At-Tin: 1]
“By the fig and the olive.”
➎ وَالنَّازِعَاتِ غَرْقًا [An-Nazi’at: 1]
“By those who violently pull out.”
Allah Almighty has commanded the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to swear oaths in three places:
➊ قُلْ إِي وَرَبِّي إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ ۖ وَمَا أَنتُم بِمُعْجِزِينَ [Yunus: 53]
“Say, ‘Yes, by my Lord, it is the truth, and you cannot make Allah powerless.'”
➋ قُلْ بَلَىٰ وَرَبِّي لَتَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ [Saba: 3]
“Say, ‘By my Lord, it will surely come to you.'”
➌ قُلْ بَلَىٰ وَرَبِّي لَتُبْعَثُنَّ [At-Taghabun: 7]
“Say, ‘Why not by Allah’s oath? You will surely be resurrected again.'”
➊ On the Day of Resurrection, the polytheists will say:
وَاللَّهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِينَ [Al-An’am: 23]
“By Allah, our Lord! We were not polytheists.”
➋ Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) swore by these words:
وَتَاللَّهِ لَأَكِيدَنَّ أَصْنَامَكُم بَعْدَ أَن تُوَلُّوا مُدْبِرِينَ [Al-Anbiya: 57]
“And by Allah, I will surely plan against your idols after you have turned and gone away.”
➌ وَأَقْسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ جَهْدَ أَيْمَانِهِمْ [Fatir: 42]
“And the disbelievers swore a mighty oath by Allah.”
➍ In a hadith, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
فمن كان حالفا فليحلف بالله
“So whoever wants to swear, let him swear by Allah.”
[Bukhari: 6646, Book of Oaths and Vows: Chapter – Do not swear by your fathers]
➊ It is narrated from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) that:
كانت يمين النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم: لا و مقلب القلوب
“The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to swear by these words:
لَا وَمُقَلْبَ الْقُلُوبِ”
[Bukhari: 6628, Book of Oaths and Vows: Chapter – How the Prophet’s oath was]
➋ These words of oath are also proven from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him):
والذي نفسي بيده
“By the One in Whose hand is my soul.”
[6629, also]
➌ It is narrated from Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “When Allah created Paradise and Hell, He sent Jibril (Gabriel) towards Paradise and said: ‘Look at what I have prepared for the inhabitants of Paradise.’ When Jibril returned after seeing it, he said:
وعزتك لا يسمع بها أحد إلا دخلها
“By Your Honor! Whoever hears about it will enter it.”
[Hasan Sahih: Sahih Nasa’i: 3523, Book of Oaths and Vows: Chapter – Swearing by the Honor of Allah, Nasa’i: 3794, Abu Dawood: 4744]
Besides this, swearing by anyone other than Allah is forbidden.
In the era of ignorance, the polytheists used to swear by their partners and false deities.
[Al-Rawdah al-Nadiyyah: 356/2]
Islam has prohibited this.
➊ The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) heard Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) swear by his father and said:
إن الله يـنـهــا كـم أن تحلفوا بآبائكم فمن كان حالفا فليحلف بالله أو ليصمت
“Indeed, Allah has forbidden you from swearing by your parents. Whoever wants to swear should swear by Allah or remain silent.”
[Bukhari: 6108, Book of Manners: Chapter – Whoever did not see disbelief in saying that out of interpretation or ignorance, Muslim: 1646, Ahmad: 11/2, Abu Dawood: 2349, Tirmidhi: 1534, Mushkil al-Athar: 355/1, Ibn Majah: 2094, Darimi: 175/2, Bayhaqi: 29/10, Muwatta: 480/2, Sharh al-Sunnah: 3/10, Al-Halilah by Abu Nu’aym: 160/9, Humaydi: 686]
➋ It is narrated from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
من حلف بـغـيـر الـلـه فقد أشرك ، وفي رواية ، فقد كفر
“Whoever swears by anyone other than Allah has indeed committed shirk (polytheism).”
And in another narration: “Then indeed he has committed kufr (disbelief).”
[Sahih: Sahih Abu Dawood: 2787, Book of Oaths and Vows: Chapter – Dislike of swearing by fathers, Abu Dawood: 3251, Tirmidhi: 1535, Hakim: 52/1, Ahmad: 34/2]
Some have raised the objection that on one hand, swearing by anyone other than Allah is prohibited, and on the other hand, Allah Himself has sworn by non-Allah, i.e., creatures, as in the Holy Quran:
وَالشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا [Ash-Shams: 1]
“By the sun and its brightness.”
And in a narration, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said about a villager:
أفلح و أبيه إن صدق
“By his father’s oath! He has succeeded if he spoke the truth.”
[Muslim: 11, Book of Oaths: Chapter – Explanation of prayers which are pillars of Islam]
The answer to this is as follows:
➊ In such oaths, the word رب is implied, such as وَرَبِّ الشَّمْسِ and وَرَبِّ أَبِيهِ, etc.
➋ Such oaths are exclusive to Allah Almighty.
➌ The words أفلح و أبيه are not proven; rather, these words are proven:
أفلح والله إن صدق
As Imam Ibn Abdul Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) explained.
➍ The prohibition is on oaths taken to glorify anyone other than Allah, whereas oaths that Arabs used to take in speech to emphasize are not prohibited, though they are disliked because the prohibition of swearing by others than Allah is established by sound evidence.
(Preferred) The last opinion is the preferred one.
[Subul al-Salam: 187/4, Qafw al-Athar: 1677/5, Al-Rawdah al-Nadiyyah: 357/2]
