Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri — by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Is the Qur’an considered “other than Allah” or not, and is it permissible to swear an oath by it?
The Qur’an is the Speech of Allah. The Speech of Allah is an Attribute of Allah. The belief of Ahl al-Sunnah is that the Divine Attributes are not separate from Allah. Therefore, an oath may be sworn by both the Essence and Attributes of Allah.
He writes:
”There is consensus that whoever swears an oath by Allah, by any of His Names, by any of His Attributes, by the Qur’an, or by any part of it, and then does not fulfill it—then the expiation for the oath becomes obligatory upon him, the one that Allah has mentioned in the Qur’an. There is no difference among the people of fiqh regarding this. There is consensus among the scholars that the explicit forms of Allah’s oath are these words: بالله، الله، والله (billāh, Allāh, wallāh).“
(Al-Tamhīd limā fī al-Muwaṭṭa’ min al-Maʿānī wa al-Asānīd, 14/369)
He writes:
”Swearing an oath by the Qur’an is permissible, as is the position of the three Imams, because this has become prevalent in our times. The statement of the one who says that an oath cannot be sworn by the Qur’an—because it is created—is of no consideration. Saying that the Qur’an is created is the belief of the Muʿtazilah, and this is disbelief, because it is known that the Qur’an is not created; rather, it is the Speech of Allah.“
(Al-Tanbīh ʿalā Mushkilāt al-Hidāyah, 4/86–87)
❖ Question
Is the Qur’an considered “other than Allah” or not, and is it permissible to swear an oath by it?
❖ Answer
The Qur’an is the Speech of Allah. The Speech of Allah is an Attribute of Allah. The belief of Ahl al-Sunnah is that the Divine Attributes are not separate from Allah. Therefore, an oath may be sworn by both the Essence and Attributes of Allah.
❀ Statement of Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr رحمه الله (d. 463 AH)
He writes:
”There is consensus that whoever swears an oath by Allah, by any of His Names, by any of His Attributes, by the Qur’an, or by any part of it, and then does not fulfill it—then the expiation for the oath becomes obligatory upon him, the one that Allah has mentioned in the Qur’an. There is no difference among the people of fiqh regarding this. There is consensus among the scholars that the explicit forms of Allah’s oath are these words: بالله، الله، والله (billāh, Allāh, wallāh).“
(Al-Tamhīd limā fī al-Muwaṭṭa’ min al-Maʿānī wa al-Asānīd, 14/369)
❀ Statement of ʿAllāmah Ibn Abī al-ʿIzz رحمه الله (d. 792 AH)
He writes:
”Swearing an oath by the Qur’an is permissible, as is the position of the three Imams, because this has become prevalent in our times. The statement of the one who says that an oath cannot be sworn by the Qur’an—because it is created—is of no consideration. Saying that the Qur’an is created is the belief of the Muʿtazilah, and this is disbelief, because it is known that the Qur’an is not created; rather, it is the Speech of Allah.“
(Al-Tanbīh ʿalā Mushkilāt al-Hidāyah, 4/86–87)
