An oath is concluded by the words “I swear”

Question

Question: A person says, “I swear that if I eat food, I will be eating haram.” If he eats, will he be an oath-breaker (hanith) or not, and will he have to give the kaffara (expiation) of an oath or not? Let it be clear that in the words mentioned, apart from the word “oath”, he did not say any of Allah’s names of essence or names of attributes — so will it be an oath or not?

Answer

[ar]وَالْيَمِينُ بِاللهِ أَوْ بِاسْمٍ مِنْ أَسْمَائِهِ، إِلَى قَوْلِهِ: وَأُقْسِمُ وَأَشْهَدُ وَأَحْلِفُ وَإِنْ لَمْ يَقُلْ بِاللهِ عَمَلًا بِالْعُرْفِ[/ar] “An oath is by Allah or by one of His names — up to the author’s words: — and by ‘I swear’ (uqsimu), ‘I bear witness’ (ashhadu) and ‘I take an oath’ (ahlifu), even if he did not say ‘by Allah’, acting upon custom (‘urf)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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