CLASS #55

Lesson 55

Verily All praise is due to Allaah alone, we praise Him, we seek His assistance, we seek His forgiveness we seek
refuge with Him from the evils of our own selves and from the consequences of our bad deeds. Whoever Allaah
guides there is none who can lead him astray and whoever Allaah lets stray there is none who can guide him. I
openly testify that there is no deity worthy of worship other than Allaah who is Alone, without any partners and I
further testify that Muhammad (salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam), is his servant and messenger.

As for what follows then today, our chapter for this session is called the chapter regarding what has come in the
texts of the book and the sunnah about (taking) excessive oaths. we've mentioned in previous lessons, that oaths,
swearing, testifying by the name of Allaah and so on are three types. We are going to be reviewing a few chapters
before we start today. The first one is about an-nathr- vows. And a vow is a kind of oath. A vow in English means
that a person forces himself to do something as a religious obligation usually, and the vow/nathar which is intended
here is when you add to that the condition of... i ask Allaah for something and then i say if Allaah gives it to me, if
you give it to me, O Allaah i will fast for three days or i will fast for ten days or i will give such and such amount in
charity. All of this is called a nathar, that is a vow. And as we mentioned previously, taking the vow initially is
disliked in islaam. You recall that we talked about previously the statement of Allaah that "they fulfil their vows"
Allaah is praising the believers., That was in surat insaan and Allaah has said in surat baqarah "whatever you have
spent, any kind of spending and whatever vow you have taken then Allaah knows it" And these two verses indicate
the permissibility of taking a vow yet the prophet salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam forbade us from taking vows. This
was narrated by Abdallaah ibn umar as is found in the saheeh-hayn. The prophet salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam forbade
us (and here the scholars say discouragement but not a strict prohibition) from nathar, it does not repel anything
from the qadar of Allaah rather it only extracts something from a stingy person. And we remember that in one
narration he said it doesn't bring anything forth faster nor is it delayed and in one narration it does not bring any
goodness in and of itself. So the prophet salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam had discouraged us from taking vows however
the taking of a vow must be done in the name of Allaah if it is done, and that is a kind of worship.

So we have the oath that has a condition that if Allaah gives you something you swear by Allaah you will do
something. This is called a nathar and is a kind of oath.

The oaths that we are going to talk about today that are usually referred to as a yameen and they have preceded in
another chapter, or a halaf. In a previous chapter we have discussed that as well and we mentioned the prophet
salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam said whoever takes an oath by other than Allaah meaning other than Allaah's Name then
he has disbelieved or committed shirk - collected by imam tirmidhi in his jaami'. And we learn from that discussion
that when we swear, taken an oath it must be by Allaah and no-one else and ibn

mas'ood said for me to swear by Allaah with a lie is more beloved to me than to swear by other than him truthfully.
Meaning when you swear by Allaah upon a lie, it is a kathib, major sin yet to swear by other than Allaah with
something factually correct is shirk and that reaches beyond the severity of major sins less than shirk. We talked
about the statement of the messenger salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam collected by ibn maajah - do not take oaths in the
names of your fathers. Whoever swears by Allaah then him be truthful. Whoever, if someone has sworn by Allaah in
their presence about something they're discussing let him accept that and be pleased with that and whoever is not
pleased with Allaah as the object of an oath then he is not from Allaah. (meaning he has been displeased with
Allaah)

So we've seen a number of ahadeeth that have talked about the subject of swearing, taking oaths. And we do recall
that taking oaths can be about the present, the future or the past. If that oath is about the past where you say i swear
by Allaah this is what i have seen and you give your testimony, then it is required this is truthful, you are required to
be honest, lying with an oath in the Name of Allaah is a major sin. If you swear by Allaah about something you will
or will not do in the future this is a binding oath and there is a kaffaarah/expiation for this if you do not fulfil what u
have sworn to do. That is what is mentioned in surat aali-imraan - that you feed ten poor people or provide them
with clothing or that you free a slave. So you are given these three options. Then whoever doesn't find that, then
fasting for three days. This fasting is done when one is unable to complete any of these three previously mentioned
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things. At that time one can take the option of fasting for three days. "These are the available expiations for your
oaths if you have taken oaths". From that verse we see the yameen is a synonym for the halaf.

So today, to put all of that in perspective, we are going to look at a new chapter that talks about the taking of oaths
and something that i don't believe was indicated in that previous lesson. Today's chapter is what has come about
excessive oath taking.

And Allaah has said "guard after your oaths" or be vigilant or take care of your oaths. Surah al-ma'idah v89. it is an
obligation thus, based on this ayah for a person to be concerned about the oaths he takes and to take them as serious
matters as Allaah has instructed us to do that. The attributes or descriptions of a believer is that he fulfils the orders
of Allaah, one of them being to be concerned with his oaths. So if he has taken an oath, and some scholars said
'guard your oaths' meaning don't take oaths, meaning excessively and some of them said it means do not take oaths
when it comes to buying and selling. Do not swear about the quality of your goods or the source of your goods or
how much you have paid for your wares but instead speak truthfully about what you have and do not make Allaah
and His name something that you use to sell your products. And we learnt from the book of Allaah, just as we learn
that the attributes of the believers is that they swear by Allaah and do not swear by Allaah except that they are
concerned with that action, that they take care of that. And swearing by other than Allaah is shirk, then we have
learnt that the opposite is true - the munaafiq, the hypocrite, what is his position when it comes to swearing by
Allaah?

First of all we understand hypocrites to be major and minor hypocrites. Hypocrites are hypocrites who have nifaaq
akbar, major hypocrisy that means they disbelieve in islaam with their hearts/reject islaam in their hearts or hate
Allaah in their hearts yet openly for a worldly benefit they pretend to be muslims. Lesser nifaaq is that which a
person does the action of a hypocrite e.g. tells a lie - the sign of a hypocrite is three "when he speaks he tells a lie".
Telling a lie is a form of hypocrisy. If a person told a lie we do not say he is outside of islaam because lying is
hypocrisy and he is a hypocrite. That is called takfeer. That's claiming muslims to be outside of islaam. Because the
action of lying is a major sin and action of hypocrisy but it does not take a person outside of islaam. And there are
other attributes of the hypocrites e.g. in surah munafiqoon: they have taken their oaths as a screen (as perhaps a
diversionary tactics, meaning they swear by Allaah that they are honest, they swear by Allaah that what they are
doing is sincere, they swear by Allaah about many things, they are people of excessive oaths - that is understood
from that verse, that they take their oaths as a screen, they are hiding hypocrisy, they are hiding disbelief in Allaah
and they are openly pretending to be muslims so, they swear by Allaah excessively to try to qualify their islaam.
Because, when a person inwardly disbelieves that belief appears and it is not possible for a person who disbelieves
inwardly to conceal his belief entirely rather, manifestations of his disbelief will show up here and there. We'll look
at one of them today, that is excessive oath taking.

On the authority of abu hurayrah who said i heard the messenger of Allaah salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam saying that
swearing is something that promotes your product in the marketplace yet it destroys or wipes away your earnings.
Bukharee and muslim. So we have been discouraged about taking oaths in the market places regarding our goods.

Our shaykh saalih al fawzaan says: what can be gained of benefit from this hadeeth:

1. A warning against using oaths for the sake of promoting your products as that is something that is a disgrace to
the name of Allaah and it's something that takes away from tawheed or perhaps it nullifies at-tawheed. (i believe it
should be that it takes away, that tawheed is decreased by way of it)

2. Clarification of what is associated with or built upon lying false oaths of harmful ideas or things. Here the
messenger salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam said it destroys ones earnings and that is with regards to the reality? of the
money that is earned. The barakah/blessing of Allaah that he puts in those earnings. If u were to have a small
amount of money yet Allaah has blessed that money, you earnt it upon honesty, in a trade that is halaal with good
manners and good dealings, observing your rights, your obligations and others rights upon you there will be barakah
in that money. But if you turn away from the orders of Allaah, you may be convinced that by way of this
disobedience or neglect that you are making a lot of money and you may have a stack in your hand of a lot of bills
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and you may think that i have thousands of dollars yet is there barakah in the money? We know money has value
and one currency to another there is fluctuation in a general sense but specifically with you and your

money there is fluctuation that is from the ghayb (unseen) where the value of a person's money can increase or
decrease for him personally based on how Allaah gives it to him and how Allaah blesses him in his use of that
money.

And you all have heard stories of people who have had large amounts of money from disobedience and how Allaah
has not given that money any benefit or blessing so the person was not able to enjoy its spending, he brought things
and they were destroyed (he was not able to enjoy them, they were not preserved) and the prophet salAllaahu alaihi
wa sallam said the two participants of the sale they have the right to cancel the sale so long as they have not
separated from each other. If they are honest and reveal the defects of the product to each other they will be blessed
in their sale (meaning Allaah will bless them in their sale and their money will have blessings) If they lie and they
hide things (meaning the defects that they are required to expose when they sell something) then the
barakah/blessing of their sale shall be wiped away (meaning Allaah will not allow their sale to be of benefit to them
- even though they may have a large amount of money, there won't be any barakah/blessing in that money. So we
believe in this system of blessing in the money and that that blessing means the money will be beneficial, it will
stay, it will buy things that have barakah in them, things that are useful and helpful and it will increase a person in
his worship of Allaah. And it will not increase a person in negligence. All of these ideas are related to that hidden
idea of barakah.

The prophet salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam said no amount of money is decreased by giving in charity. So when you
pay your zakaat you technically lose a certain amount of money. 2.5% of your earnings. Yet the money is not
decreased, meaning the money with its barakah is in full and in fact the barakah will be increased because you have
purified your wealth. So the value, the barakah, the way you can use that money and get benefit from it will be
increased. Or with charity, non-obligatory charity, when you give money in charity to support something Allaah
loves, the spread of tawheed, the spread of the sunnah, the helping people to fulfil their obligations, the building of
masjids, the bringing of peace between differing parties and so on, when you spend money on these great ideas
whatever you have spent does not decrease from your wealth meaning what remains will have more than the original
amount of blessing.

We have testimonies of people in real life saying after giving zakaat etc, the little bit of money i had took me a far
distance, everything i brought was blessed, every time i went to the market place i found a deal, every time i brought
something it was the best quality and so on, because there is blessing in that money. And you find people with lots
of money, or neglectful of the order of Allaah, They say everything i buy just turns out to be garbage, broken, does
not last. When i go to the market all the prices are high and i can't find what i'm looking for, i'm always overcharged
for what i buy. These are indications that the barakah of a person's money is low or it has been null and void

3. Haraam earnings even if they are alot and you can count them in large numbers that has no barakah in it and no
good in it due to the absence of barakah.

Salmaan said the messenger of Allaah salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam said there are three that Allaah will not speak to
(meaning on the day of judgement with speech that is a kind of reward) and he will not purify them and they shall
have a painful punishment: An elderly fornicator and a poor person who is arrogant and a man who has made Allaah
(meaning Allaah's name) his ware (what he buys and sells: meaning:) he does not buy anything except by an oath in
Allaah's name and he doesn't sell anything except by taking oaths in the name of Allaah - such a person has made
the oaths made through the Name of Allaah as his actual product he is trading with. The author says it was collected
by at-tabaraani with an authentic chain

Shaykh saalih al-fawzaan said what can be gained of benefit from this hadeeth:

1. A warning against excessive oath taking in the market place, in buying and selling. and encouragement to respect
the oath taken in Allaah's Name and to honour the Names of Allaah The Glorified One
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2. Affirmation of the speech of Allaah and that He will speak to those who obey Him (meaning on the day of
judgement) and He will honour him with that speech, that will be a reward and honour for those who have obeyed
Him in the hereafter

3. A warning against fornication and adultery especially when it comes to the elderly. Allaah hates for an older
person to commit zina more than a younger person (why: a younger person has more of an excuse and the older is
usually married and has less passion and desire and energy so for him to commit it, it shows more severe neglect of
the order of Allaah. Not that it is permissible for a young person to fornicate but is less severe as a crime than when
an older person does it)

4. The prohibition of arrogance especially from a person who is poor. This is similar to the first case. A person who
is older has more right to be chaste, has more right to stay away from things that lead to fornication because he
doesn't have the same drive and the same energy so he's less excusable and the person who is poor he has no
foundation, he has no basis upon which to be arrogant, he doesn't have anything to be arrogant about over the
people. A person who is poor is less excusable for being arrogant, not that a rich person who is arrogant is excusable
but that he has a reason at least to be arrogant. What about the person who has no foundation or basis or reason to be
arrogant yet he looks down on the people. (such a person)..is something Allaahu ta'aala hates especially as he has
mentioned him here in this hadeeth "he is a poor person who is arrogant".

And the third person mentioned again was the foundation or the intention of the mention of this hadeeth in this place
and that is that Allaah will not speak to a person or purify him and he'll have a painful punishment. He is the third
one here, a man who makes Allaah's

name his ware- his goods in the marketplace and he only swears by Allaah's name and only selling by Allaah's name
with oaths about his side of the deal and only buying like that.

The next hadeeth is that of imraan ibn husayn radiallaahu anhu. He said that the messenger salAllaahu alaihi wa
sallam said "the best of my ummah is my generation (the generation of the prophet salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam, the
reference here is to the companions), then (meaning the next best group of the ummah)those who come next (the
followers of the companions - taabi'oon), then those who come after that(meaning the next in virtue are those who
come after them and i have seen in english they are called the successors of the taabi-oon or the followers of the
taabi'oon, the third generation, those who did not meet the companions but rather they met a taabi'ee)...[So imraan
said i don't recall if he mentioned after his generation two generations or three] ...then after you there will be some
people who testify without being asked, betray and are not trusted, and take oaths and do not fulfil them. And
obesity will be common with them" This hadeeth was collected by al-bukhaaree and muslim.

So we have here a number of great issues and this hadeeth could take a long time to explain it if we don't focus on
the point intended by the author and that is: the people who would come later that are not as good as the earlier
people, those people who take oaths but do not fulfil them. Those people who don't honour the oath and the name of
Allaah they have taken their oaths in, or their vows in and they break their oaths and they don't fulfil their oaths and
their vows.

Shaykh saalih al-fawzaan said, what can be gained of benefit from this hadeeth:

1. The virtues of the first 3 generations or the first four generations - the companions and the taabi'oon after them
and their followers

2. A dispraise of being quick to give your testimony in favour or against something

3. A dispraise of being neglectful or being too lenient with your vows and oaths and an obligation to uphold and
fulfil them
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4. A dispraise of betraying the trust someone gives you and an encouragement to fulfil ones trust

5. A dispraise of basking and enjoying the worldly things and seeking after the worldly delights turning away from
the hereafter

6. A sign of the truthfulness of his prophethood salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam- a prophecy that has come true as he had
informed us of something before it happened and it has taken place just as he informed us. And that is that these
people who come and give their testimony very easily without being asked, they betray and they are not trustworthy,
they take oaths and they do not fulfil them and they are obese.

And in that collection (bukhaaree and muslim) on the authority of abdallaah ibn mas'ood the prophet salAllaahu
alaihi wa sallam said: "the best people are my generation, then those who come next and then those who come after
them. (meaning in virtue) After that, people whose testimony precedes their oaths will come and their oaths will
precede their testimony (as well) (meaning because of their excessive oaths and their rushing into testimony to
testify or giving witness)

Ibraaheem an-nakhkha-ee, one of the narrators in this chain of hadeeth said "we used to get physically disciplined
(they used to beat us - who are they? the parents of the taabi'oon, possibly the elder sahaabah) because of our
testimonies and (covenants and) agreements" (i.e. because of our misbehaviour regarding them) [meaning as a child
in the state of childhood, we used to be physically disciplined over offering testimony that's untrue meaning
misbehaviour in these two issues. Offering testimonies too quickly or untrue testimonies and making agreements
and not fulfilling them] So here we see the salaf would beat their children for physical discipline for other than the
salaah and this is in opposition to those who say you do not beat children except for the salaat- since the prophet
salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam ordered children to be physically disciplined regarding the prayer at ten years old if they
have been ordered to pray and they refuse or they do not pray. If they are negligent in their payer then one of the
solutions is that they are physically disciplined regarding the prayer. Some ulema have extracted from that that it's
not permissible to physically discipline children in any other issue bur here we see ibraaheem an nakhkha-ee and
this was reported by as well, the statement of ibraheem an-nakhkha-ee comes with one of these narrations, the
hadeeth about the best of people is my generation in saheeh al-bukhaaree. So he says at the end of his narration that
they used to physically discipline us about our testimony and our agreements meaning misbehaviour in relation to
those things, while we were children.

Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan says what can be gained of benefit from this hadeeth

1. The favoured generations, the best generations are the first three, they are the best of this ummah.

2. This hadeeth is a dispraise for being quick to offer testimony or take oaths

3. Another sign of the truthful prophet hood of the messenger salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam as what he has informed
us about has actually occurred

4. The focus of the salaf that they had on their children in raising them and in disciplining them.

From Q/A:
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Q: Saying 'i swear...'

A: I think this pattern of speech has come from the movement of the atheists. There's a definite pattern, it needs
studying by those who study the english language. How has thee english language developed to remove any
reference of Allaah or as they refer to Him as "god" (and as has preceded we don't refer to Allaah as god as a title or
a name since the Names of Allaah are tawqeefiyyah, they are restricted to the texts of the book and the sunnah. So
they refer to Allaah as "god" and you find them leaving statements like O my god, they used to say quite clearly
(and i mean the English speaking people, i'm not talking about any issue that has a grounding in islaamic knowledge
or in arabic, i'm talking about the custom of English speaking people in saying O my god. And saying O my god has
developed into saying O my gosh, they have invented a word that means nothing to remove a reference to their god.
So they say O my gosh. And what's gosh? It's a sound you make with your mouth because you don't want to say
god. And they have shortened it even further and they say O my! O my is a further migration away from any
mention of the Creator or any affirmation of the Creator. It is a language (english) that seeks to adapt to please
atheists or to please everyone and atheists now have a major presence on earth, especially in the english language so
if you say O my god in some instances, you will offend people in the English language. Someone will say, "please..i
don't believe in god!" And so to avoid this offence, to avoid offending atheists English speaking people have
adapted to O my gosh and O my! (as the atheists will not have a problem with you saying o my gosh or o my!)

And there are examples of this as well amongst the Christians where instead of saying jesus they start saying jeez.
Now, I'm not endorsing in any way whatsoever, in the time of difficulty someone saying O jesus! Because this is
istigaatha, when you are facing an extreme kind of difficulty and you say jesus! This means you are calling upon
jesus! You are calling upon other than Allaah but of course the Christians don't have a problem with calling upon
other than Allaah and to seek a way of not offending those who don't believe in their religion, they say jeez! They
shorten jesus to something that has no meaning, to a sound that has no meaning and is not a reference to their object
of worship. And so on. And there are many examples of removal of the mention of Allaah, of a creator, of a higher
power, from various English phrases. And as you know, it officially happened in America, that the government
separated from the church. They call it the separation of church and state so it is official that religious matters have
no place in the government, So these kinds of manifestations or the migration away from the mention of Allaah, the
reference to Allaah, thanking Allaah, this is a modern direction that English is taking as english evolves. It is not a
stable language, it is a deficient language and one that evolves and it is evolving towards not mentioning Allaah.

So now, i'm afraid now, that saying i swear is from this category of phrases in english. And i'm not sure if it is but
i'm afraid that it is so when a normal person, (im not talking about muslims specifically), they would say, i swear its
true, i swear im telling the truth. They are not swearing by anything, just saying, i swear. We don't have that in
arabic. We don't say Uqsimu annahu haqq, we dont say ahlifu annahu haqq - I take an oath or i swear that its the
truth, we don't say that, we always need an object for our oath. Uqsimu bi-katha...Uqsimu billaahi...Uqsimu bi-
kitaabillaah and so on. And some of the people who don't know their tawheed they say Uqsimu bi-nabi (I swear by
Allaah, i swear by His Book and some people who don't know their tawheed they say i swear by the prophet
(salAllaahu alaihi wa sallam) and we know that this is shirk with Allaah. Allaah is the One in whose name we take
our oaths. Saying i swear without an object could possibly be from this modern manifestation of a migration away
from the mention of Allaah or a Higher power into the use of phrases that please the atheists and the general people.
And Allaah knows best. So i would advise you not to say i swear and not to easily say i swear, i swear, but to think
about what you're saying before you say it. If there is a need for you to take an oath then you say In Allaah's Name
or by Allaah's name i swear that this is truthful, if someone asks you, they doubt the accuracy of your information
and you are absolutely sure of the accuracy of what you are saying and they request you to take an oath by Allaah's
name, then take the oath by Allaah's name. Say because you have asked me, i'm not a person who rushes into
swearing by Allaah's name but i will swear by Allaah's name now that what i have said is correct. In such a case you
would swear and add by what you are swearing. Swearing by Allaahs name.