Conditions of Taking an Oath
Issue No. 2300- If a person takes an oath with the following conditions, he should act upon it, or else, he will be liable to kaffāra (atonement):1- A person who takes an oath should be mature and sane, and in case he takes an oath in respect to his property, he should neither be mentally incompetent, nor should have been prevented by the Islamic judge from making use of his property. One should take the oath with his own volition. Hence, an oath by a minor, an insane person or by a person forced to take an oath will not valid. Similarly, if one takes an oath in a state of anger involuntarily, the oath will be void.2- The act which one takes an oath to do should not be haram or makrūh, and the act for which a person takes an oath to abandon should not be obligatory or recommended. Moreover, if one takes an oath to perform a mubāḥ act, its abandonment should not be better than its performance according to the common perception, or if he takes an oath to abandon a mubāḥ act, its performance should not be preferable to its abandonment according to common perception.3- The oath must be sworn by one of the names of the Almighty Allah which are either exclusively used for Him, (e.g., Allah or God), or by a name which is used for other beings also, but is used so extensively for Him, that when any person utters that name one is reminded of Him alone. In fact, if he uses other names or attributes of Allah which do not remind a person of God’s name without a context, but his intention is Allah, he should, as an obligatory precaution, act according to that oath.4- The oath should be uttered in words. In case, therefore, a person passes it in his mind, it will not be sufficient. And if he writes it down, the obligatory precaution is that he should act according to it. However, if a dumb person takes an oath by making a sign, it is in order.5- It should be possible for a person to act upon his oath. And if he is able to act upon the oath when he takes it, but becomes incapable of acting upon it later, the oath is nullified from the time he becomes incapable of acting upon it. And the same order applies if acting upon one's oath involves such hardship that it is not possible for one to bear it.
