Oaths and Vows
كتاب الأيمان والنذور
Chapter 3: How did the oaths of the Prophet (saws) use to be?
Hind bint `Utba bin Rabi`a said, "O Allah 's Apostle! (Before I embraced Islam), there was no family on the surface of the earth, I wish to have degraded more than I did your family. But today there is no family whom I wish to have honored more than I did yours." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "I thought similarly, by Him in Whose Hand Muhammad's soul is!" Hind said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! (My husband) Abu Sufyan is a miser. Is it sinful of me to feed my children from his property?" The Prophet said, "No, unless you take it for your needs what is just and reasonable."
While Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was sitting, reclining his back against a Yemenite leather tent he said to his companions, "Will you be pleased to be one-fourth of the people of Paradise?" They said, 'Yes.' He said "Won't you be pleased to be one-third of the people of Paradise" They said, "Yes." He said, "By Him in Whose Hand Muhammad's soul is, I hope that you will be one-half of the people of Paradise."
A man heard another man reciting: Surat-ul-Ikhlas (The Unity) 'Say: He is Allah, the One (112) and he was repeating it. The next morning he came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and mentioned the whole story to him as if he regarded the recitation of that Sura as insufficient On that, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is! That (Sura No. 112) equals one-third of the Qur'an."
I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, "Perform the bowing and the prostration properly (with peace of mind), for, by Him in Whose Hand my soul is, I see you from behind my back when you bow and when you prostrate."
An Ansari woman came to the Prophet (ﷺ) in the company of her children, and the Prophet (ﷺ) said to her, "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, you are the most beloved people to me!" And he repeated the statement thrice.
Chapter 4: "Do not swear by your fathers"
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) met `Umar bin Al-Khattab while the latter was going with a group of camel-riders, and he was swearing by his father. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Lo! Allah forbids you to swear by your fathers, so whoever has to take an oath, he should swear by Allah or keep quiet."
I heard `Umar saying, "Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to me, 'Allah forbids you to swear by your fathers." `Umar said, "By Allah! Since I heard that from the Prophet (ﷺ) , I have not taken such an oath, neither intentionally, nor by reporting the oath of someone else."
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Do not swear by your fathers."
There was a relation of love and brotherhood between this tribe of Jarm and Al-Ash`ariyin. Once we were with Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari, and then a meal containing chicken was brought to Abu Musa, and there was present, a man from the tribe of Taimillah who was of red complexion as if he were from non-Arab freed slaves. Abu Musa invited him to the meal. He said, "I have seen chickens eating dirty things, so I deemed it filthy and took an oath that I would never eat chicken." On that, Abu Musa said, "Get up, I will narrate to you about that. Once a group of the Ash`ariyin and I went to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and asked him to provide us with mounts; he said, 'By Allah, I will never give you any mounts nor do I have anything to mount you on.' Then a few camels of war booty were brought to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) , and he asked about us, saying, 'Where are the Ash-'ariyin?' He then ordered five nice camels to be given to us, and when we had departed, we said, 'What have we done? Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had taken the oath not to give us any mounts, and that he had nothing to mount us on, and later he gave us that we might ride? Did we take advantage of the fact that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had forgotten his oath? By Allah, we will never succeed.' So we went back to him and said to him, 'We came to you to give us mounts, and you took an oath that you would not give us any mounts and that you had nothing to mount us on.' On that he said, 'I did not provide you with mounts, but Allah did. By Allah, if I take an oath to do something, and then find something else better than it, I do that which is better and make expiation for the dissolution of the oath.' "
Chapter 5: One should not swear by Al-Lat and Al-'Uzza or by any false deities
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Whoever swears saying in his oath. 'By Al-Lat and Al-`Uzza,' should say, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah; and whoever says to his friend, 'Come, let me gamble with you,' should give something in charity."
Chapter 6: The one who gives an oath regarding something although he has not been asked to give an oath
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had a gold ring made for himself, and he used to wear it with the stone towards the inner part of his hand. Consequently, the people had similar rings made for themselves. Afterwards the Prophet; sat on the pulpit and took it off, saying, "I used to wear this ring and keep its stone towards the palm of my hand." He then threw it away and said, "By Allah, I will never wear it." Therefore all the people threw away their rings as well.
Chapter 7: Whoever swears by a religion other than Islam
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Whoever swears by a religion other than Islam, is, as he says; and whoever commits suicide with something, will be punished with the same thing in the (Hell) Fire; and cursing a believer is like murdering him; and whoever accuses a believer of disbelief, then it is as if he had killed him."
Chapter 8: One should not say: "Whatever Allah wills and whatever you will."
Narrated Abu Hurairah that he heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, "Allah decided to test three people from Bani Isra'il. So, He sent an angel who came first to the leper and said, '(I am a traveller) who has run short of all means of living, and I have nobody to help me except Allah, and then with your help.'" Abu Hurairah then mentioned the complete narration.
Chapter 9: "They swear by Allah their strongest oaths that ..."
The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered us to help others to fulfill the oaths.
Once a daughter of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) sent a message to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) while Usama, Sa`d, and my father or Ubai were (sitting there) with him. She said, (in the message); My child is going to die; please come to us." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) returned the messenger and told him to convey his greetings to her, and say, "Whatever Allah takes, is for Him and whatever He gives is for Him, and everything with Him has a limited fixed term (in this world): so she should be patient and hope for Allah's reward." Then she again sent for him swearing that he should come; so The Prophet (ﷺ) got up, and so did we. When he sat there (at the house of his daughter), the child was brought to him, and he took him into his lap while the child's breath was disturbed in his chest. The eyes of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) started shedding tears. Sa`d said, "What is this, O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)?" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "This is the mercy which Allah has lodged in the hearts of whoever He wants of His slaves, and verily Allah is merciful only to those of His slaves who are merciful (to others).'
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Any Muslim who has lost three of his children will not be touched by the Fire except that which will render Allah's oath fulfilled."
I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, "Shall I tell you of the people of Paradise? They comprise every poor humble person, and if he swears by Allah to do something, Allah will fulfill it; while the people of the fire comprise every violent, cruel arrogant person."
Chapter 10: "I bear witness swearing by Allah"
The Prophet (ﷺ) was asked, "Who are the best people?" He replied: The people of my generation, and then those who will follow (come after) them, and then those who will come after the later; after that there will come some people whose witness will precede their oaths and their oaths will go ahead of their witness." Ibrahim (a sub-narrator) said, "When we were young, our elder friends used to prohibit us from taking oaths by saying, 'I bear witness swearing by Allah, or by Allah's Covenant."'
Chapter 11: The Covenant of Allah 'Azza wa Jall
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Whoever swears falsely in order to grab the property of a Muslim (or of his brother), Allah will be angry with him when he meets Him." Allah then revealed in confirmation of the above statement:--'Verily those who purchase a small gain at the cost of Allah's Covenant and their own oaths.' (3.77) Al-Ash'ath said, "This Verse was revealed regarding me and a companion of mine when we had a dispute about a well."
Chapter 12: To swear by Allah's 'Izza, His Qualities, and His Speech
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The Hell Fire will keep on saying: 'Are there anymore (people to come)?' Till the Lord of Power and Honor will put His Foot over it and then it will say, 'Qat! Qat! (sufficient! sufficient!) by Your Power and Honor. And its various sides will come close to each other (i.e., it will contract). "