He also says: I ask, O honorable Shaykh, about the ruling on swearing oaths. He says: “By the life of Allah, I will certainly do such-and-such.” Is there anything wrong with this?

The questioner : The questioner from Jordan, Fakhri A.A., also says: I ask, O honorable Shaykh, about the ruling on swearing oaths. He says: “By the life of Allah, I will certainly do such-and-such.” Is there there anything wrong with this?

The Shaykh : By the life of Allah?

The questioner : Yes, “By the life of Allah, I will certainly do such-and-such”?

The Shaykh : Yes. Swearing an oath by the life of Allah is a valid oath.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Because an oath is made by Allah, or by any of the names of Allah, or by any of the attributes of Allah, and life is one of the attributes of Allah.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : So if one says, “By the life of Allah, I will certainly do such-and-such,” it is a valid and permissible oath. But if one swears by the life of the Prophet, or by the life of a wali (close friend of Allah), or by the life of the caliph, or by the life of any revered person other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic), then that is shirk (associating partners with Allah), and it is a disobedience to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His Messenger, and it is a sin. This is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) . And we often hear people saying “By the Prophet, I will certainly do such-and-such” or “By the life of the Prophet, I will certainly do such-and-such”, claiming that this is something that just slips off their tongue without intention. We say: even in this case, accustom your tongue not to swear except by Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and restrain yourself from swearing by anyone other than Allah. Also, on this occasion, I would like to clarify to my brother listeners that a person should not multiply oaths, because some scholars have interpreted the saying of Allah the Exalted to mean that one should not multiply oaths.
And if it happens that a person swears to do something in the future, let him say “if Allah wills,” because if he says “if Allah wills,” there are two great benefits. The first benefit is that this is one of the causes of facilitating the matter he swore to and achieving his objective.
The second is that if he does not do it, there is no expiation upon him. The evidence for this is the story of the Prophet Sulayman (peace be upon him) when he said: “By Allah, I will certainly go around tonight to ninety women, and each one of them will give birth to a boy who will fight in the cause of Allah”. It was said to him: Say “if Allah wills.” But he did not say it, relying on the certainty in his heart. So he went around to ninety women, but only one of them gave birth to a half-person, meaning half a human being. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: .
As for the second benefit, which is that if he does not do it, he has not broken his oath—meaning, if he swore to do something and did not do it, but he had said “if Allah wills,” then there is no breaking of the oath upon him, meaning no expiation upon him—this is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) .

The questioner : Very well.

The Shaykh : Yes.