Sunday, January 19, 2014

"Wallahi" .... Swearing by the Name of Allah

قال رسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم من كان حالفا فليحلف بالله او يصمت
The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), "When anyone of you swears an oath, he should undertake it in the Name of Allah or remains silent" [Bukhari]

An oath is a statement of fact or a promise. An oath is made when declaring something to be true or when making a commitment. For example, a person can say, "I swear I didn't do anything wrong" or "I swear I will call you tomorrow." In both instance, an oath is taken as evidence for the truth. Sometimes oaths are sworn in the name of God or material things. Like in certain cultures it is common to swear on someone's grave (i.e. I swear on my mother's grave) or someone's life (I swear on my little brother's life). In other cultures, people also swear by the sun or the moon, or they say, "I swear on my heart and hope to die." Oaths are not meant to be as disturbing and eerie as these words suggest.

The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) said, “Whoever swears by something other than Allah has committed an act of kufr or shirk.” [al-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawood]

Normally an oath is sworn in the name of an important and respected person or place. In Islam, oath can only be sworn by the Sacred and Holy, the Creator Allah because only He is All-Seeing and All-Knowing and therefore, He alone can be a Witness to the statement of fact or truth. Moreover, only Allah can be the guarantor of the oath, meaning if a person lies under oath which they have sworn under Allah's Name, it will invoke Allah's displeasure and punishment. If an oath is vowed by a tree or a stone then these things have no idea that their name has been used and they are powerless to take revenge if the oath taker is proven wrong or if he fails to do what he promised. Additionally, Allah's help and blessing is in the oath that is sworn in His Name. So if an oath must be taken, swear only in the Name of Allah or remain silent, that is, do not swear upon anything else as it will be shirk and only say that it is true or that you promise etc.


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