16. Oaths and Their Expiation

In the flow of divine guidance concerning human interactions, Allah addresses the matter of oaths and their implications. Oaths have significant moral and legal weight in Islamic ethics, as they invoke Allah's name and establish commitments that must be honored or properly resolved.

Allah says in Surah Al-Baqarah:

This verse cautions believers against using Allah's name carelessly in oaths, particularly when those oaths might prevent righteous actions. For instance, a person might swear by Allah not to speak to someone or not to perform an act of kindness, thereby using an oath as an obstacle to virtue. The Qur'an warns against such misuse of oaths, emphasizing that reconciliation, piety, and goodness should not be hindered by impulsive oaths.

The verse continues to address how Allah deals with oaths:

Here, Allah distinguishes between different types of oaths. Laghw refers to casual or unintentional oaths that people might utter without serious intention, such as expressions like "by Allah" that come in casual conversation without deliberate intent to take an oath. These do not carry moral or legal weight. However, Allah holds people accountable for deliberately taken oaths that reflect the intention of their hearts.

In the following verse, Allah addresses marriages and oaths related to spousal relationships:

This verse addresses the practice of ila', where a husband would take an oath to abstain from intimate relations with his wife. During the pre-Islamic era, this was often used as a means of indefinitely neglecting wives without granting them divorce. Islam reformed this practice.