Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:89
Allah will not impose blame upon you for what is meaningless in your oaths, but He will impose blame upon you for [breaking] what you intended of oaths. So its expiation is the feeding of ten needy people from the average of that which you feed your [own] families or clothing them or the freeing of a slave. But whoever cannot find [or afford it] - then a fast of three days [is required]. That is the expiation for oaths when you have sworn. But guard your oaths. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be grateful.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah will not call you to account for the levity in your oaths
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم (Allah will not call you to account for the levity (laghw) in your oaths). The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to those among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who had forbidden the good things to themselves — and they had forbidden that by oaths which they had sworn, whereupon He forbade them to forbid those things — and He said to them: Your Lord will not call you to account for the levity in your oaths. As:
9642 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When there was revealed: يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا تحرموا طيبات ما أحل الله لكم ("O you who believe, do not forbid the good things that Allah has made lawful for you") concerning the people who had forbidden to themselves women and meat, they said: O Messenger of Allah, how are we to act with our oaths that we have sworn upon it? Then Allah, the Exalted whose mention is exalted, revealed: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم ("Allah will not call you to account for the levity in your oaths") — the verse. This indicates what we have said, namely that the people had forbidden things to themselves by oaths which they had sworn, and this verse was revealed because of them.
But He calls you to account
The reciters differ over the reading of it. Most of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and some of the Baṣrans read it: ولكن يؤاخذكم بما عقدتم الأيمان ("but He calls you to account for what you have bound fast with oaths") with the doubling (tashdīd) of the qāf, in the sense of: you have confirmed and repeated the oaths. And the reciters of Kūfa read "bimā ʿaqadtum al-aymān" with the lightening (takhfīf) of the qāf, in the sense of: you have imposed them upon yourselves, and your hearts have made a firm resolve to them. The more correct of the two readings here is the reading of him who read it with the lightening of the qāf, because the Arabs hardly use the verb faʿʿaltu (in the doubled form) in the language except for something that is repeated, time after time, like their saying: "I tightened (shaddadtu) such-and-such upon someone," when he repeats the tightening time after time; but when they wish to report about an action that occurs once, one says "shadadtu ʿalayhi" with the lightening. And all are unanimous, without disagreement among them, that the oath in which, by its breaking (ḥinth), the expiation (kaffāra) becomes obligatory, becomes binding by the breaking when sworn once, even though the one who swears it does not repeat it several times. From this it is known that Allah calls to account the one who swears who has bound his heart upon his oath, even though he does not repeat it or confirm it. And since that is so, there is no intelligible ground for the doubling of the qāf in "ʿaqadtum." The explanation of the words is then: Allah will not call you to account, O believers, for your oaths concerning what you have said in them as levity, but He calls you to account for what you have imposed upon yourselves and upon which your hearts have bound themselves. And we have already earlier set forth in this book of ours which oath is levity (laghw) and which oath Allah calls the servant to account for, and which oath is one in which breaking occurs and which is one in which there is no breaking, so we deem it undesirable to repeat that here.
With what you have bound fast with oaths
And as for His saying: بما عقدتم الأيمان — Hannād: 9643 - related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: ولكن يؤاخذكم بما عقدتم الأيمان, he said: with what you have done intentionally. * - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same. 9644 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: ولكن يؤاخذكم بما عقدتم الأيمان, he says: that in which you intentionally pursued the sin, for that the expiation rests upon you.
The expiation for it is the feeding of ten needy persons
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فكفارته إطعام عشرة مساكين. The scholars of exegesis differ over the "hā" (the pronoun) in His saying فكفارته ("the expiation for it"), to what it refers and what it calls to mind. Some of them said: it refers to the "mā" that is in His saying بما عقدتم الأيمان. The mention of who said that: 9645 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning this verse: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم, he said: that is that you swear about something while it appears to you that it is as you swore, but it is not so; then Allah does not call you to account for it, and there is no expiation; but the calling to account and the expiation is for that about which you have sworn with knowledge. 9646 - Ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, who said: The levity (laghw), in it there is no expiation; ولكن يؤاخذكم بما عقدتم الأيمان, he said: that upon which he has bound fast his oath, for that the expiation rests upon him. 9647 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of Abū Mālik, who said: The oaths are three: an oath that is expiated, an oath that is not expiated, and an oath for which the one who swears it is not called to account. As for the oath that is expiated: that is that the man swears that he will not do something and then does do it; then the expiation rests upon him. And as for the oath that is not expiated: that is that the man swears about a matter in which he lies intentionally; in it there is no expiation. And as for the oath for which the one who swears it is not called to account: that is that the man swears about a matter thinking that it is as he swore upon it, but it is not so; for that no expiation rests upon him, and that is the levity (laghw). 9648 - Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Laylā informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: ʿĀʾisha said: The levity oath is that upon which the one who swears has not bound his heart. 9649 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Hishām related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: In the levity oath there is no expiation. 9650 - Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yūnus informed me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, that ʿUrwa told him that ʿĀʾisha said: The oaths of expiation are every oath in which the man swears about a serious matter, in anger or otherwise, that he will surely do something or surely refrain from it; that is the binding fast of the oaths in which Allah has prescribed the expiation, and the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, said: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم ولكن يؤاخذكم بما عقدتم الأيمان. 9651 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ informed me, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, and on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, both said: In the levity oath there is no expiation. 9652 - Bishr related to us, saying: Jāmiʿ ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: ولكن يؤاخذكم بما عقدتم الأيمان, he says: that in which you intentionally pursued the sin, for that the expiation rests upon you. He said: And Qatāda said: as for the levity, in it there is no expiation. * - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbda related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: In the levity oath there is no expiation. 9653 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr al-ʿAnqazī related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī: In the levity oath there is no expiation. The meaning of the words according to this interpretation is then: Allah will not call you to account for the levity in your oaths, but He calls you to account for what you have bound fast with oaths, and the expiation for what you have bound fast of that is: the feeding of ten needy persons.
And others said: The "hā" in His saying فكفارته refers to the levity (laghw), and it is a reference to it. They said: and the meaning of the words is only: Allah will not call you to account for the levity in your oaths when you expiate it, but He does call you to account when you bind fast oaths and then persist in carrying them out by abandoning the breaking and the expiation; and persisting in carrying them out is not permissible for you, so the expiation for the levity of it, when you break it, is: the feeding of ten needy persons. The mention of who said that: 9654 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم, he said: that is the man who swears about a matter of harm that he will do it and then does not do it, because he sees something better than that; then Allah commands him to expiate his oath and do the better thing. And another time he said concerning His saying: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم up to His saying: بما عقدتم الأيمان, he said: and the levity of the oath is that which is expiated; Allah does not call it to account; but whoever persists in forbidding what Allah has made lawful for him and does not turn away from it and does not expiate his oath, that is the one that is called to account. 9655 - Hannād related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His saying: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم, he said: that is the one who swears about a disobedience (maʿṣiya) and then does not carry it out, so he expiates. 9656 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم, he said: that is the man who swears about a disobedience; Allah the Exalted does not call it to account against him; he expiates his oath and does what is better. ولكن يؤاخذكم بما عقدتم الأيمان: the man who swears about a disobedience and then persists in it; the expiation for that is the feeding of ten needy persons. 9657 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Dāwūd informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said concerning the levity oath: it is the oath about a disobedience; and he said: Do you then not read and not understand? He said: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم ولكن يؤاخذكم بما عقدتم الأيمان, he said: thus He does not call it to account against him on account of the annulment (ilghāʾ), but He calls it to account against him on account of persisting in it. He said: and he said: ولا تجعلوا الله عرضة لأيمانكم ("and do not make Allah an obstacle for your oaths"). * - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His saying: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم, he said: that is the man who swears about a disobedience; Allah does not call him to account for abandoning it if he abandons it. I said: and how is he to act? He said: he expiates his oath and abandons the disobedience. 9658 - Yaḥyā ibn Jaʿfar related to me, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His saying: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم, he said: the expiated oath. 9659 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: The levity: an oath for which the one who swears it is not called to account, and in which there is an expiation.
And the more correct in my judgment here is that the "hā" in His saying فكفارته refers to the "mā" that is in His saying بما عقدتم الأيمان, on account of what we have earlier adduced, namely that it is not permissible to say to one upon whom an expiation rests in his oath and who has been called to account for it: Allah does not call him to account for the levity; and in His saying, the Exalted: لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم is a clear proof that the one of whom the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, has informed us that he is not called to account, is in no way called to account. And if someone supposes that He, the Exalted whose mention is exalted, by His saying لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم intended only the punishment for it in the hereafter when you break it and expiate it — not that He does not call them to account for it in this world with an expiation — then the report of Allah the Exalted, and His command and prohibition in His Book, is in our judgment according to the general outward meaning (al-ẓāhir al-ʿāmm), on the basis of what we have already demonstrated elsewhere as the correctness of that view, so that repetition is superfluous — and not according to the hidden general meaning (al-bāṭin al-ʿāmm) for which there is no indication of restriction in reason, report, or proof, namely that He, the Exalted whose mention is exalted, by His saying لا يؤاخذكم الله باللغو في أيمانكم intended only some of the meanings of the calling to account and not all. And since that is so, and since one upon whom an expiation rests in an oath that he has broken is called to account with an immediate punishment in his property, it is known that he is someone other than the one of whom the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, has informed us that He does not call him to account for it. And since the correct interpretation here is what we have said, with what we have demonstrated, the meaning of the words is then: Allah will not call you to account, O people, for any levity of word and oaths when you do not thereby intend disobedience to Allah the Exalted and transgression of His command and do not pursue any sin thereby; but He calls you to account for what you have intentionally made into a sin and imposed upon yourselves and upon which your hearts have bound themselves, and that is expiated for you, so that it covers the evil that proceeded from you of lying and false speech and wipes it out, so that your Lord does not prosecute you for it; the feeding of ten needy persons from the average of what you feed your families.
From the average of what you feed your families
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم. The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, intends by His saying من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم: the most balanced (aʿdal) of it. As: 9660 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Jurayj informed us, saying: I heard ʿAṭāʾ saying concerning this verse: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم أو كسوتهم, ʿAṭāʾ said: the average of it: the most balanced of it. And the scholars of exegesis differ over the meaning of His saying من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم. Some said: the meaning of it is: from the average of the food types that the inhabitants of the town of the one who expiates are accustomed to feed their families. The mention of who said that: 9661 - Hannād related to us, saying: Sharīk informed us, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥanash, on the authority of al-Aswad, who said: I asked him about: أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: bread, dates, oil, and butter, and the best of it is meat. * - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥanash, who said: I asked al-Aswad ibn Yazīd about that, and he said: bread and dates. Hannād added in his narration: oil, he said: and I think: vinegar. 9662 - Hannād and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both said: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar concerning His saying: أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: from the average of what one feeds one's family: bread and dates, bread and butter, and bread and oil; and from the best of what one feeds them: bread and meat. * - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar: أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم: bread and meat, bread and butter, bread and cheese, and bread and vinegar. * - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥanash, who said: I asked al-Aswad ibn Yazīd about the average of what you feed your families, he said: bread and dates. * - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥanash related to us, saying: I asked al-Aswad ibn Yazīd, and he mentioned the same. 9663 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda al-Salmānī: أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: bread and butter. * - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, who said: I asked ʿAbīda about that, and he mentioned the same. * - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Azhar related to us, saying: Ibn ʿAwn informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda: أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم: bread and butter. 9664 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, who said: they used to say: the best of it is bread and meat, and the average of it: bread and butter, and the least of it: bread and dates. 9665 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: bread and meat, or bread and butter, or bread and milk. 9666 - Hannād and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both said: ʿUmar ibn Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Abū Muṣliḥ, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His saying: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: bread, meat, and broth. 9667 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabbān al-Ṭāʾī, who said: I was with Shurayḥ, and a man came to him who said: I swore an oath and I have sinned (broken it)! Shurayḥ said: what brought you to that? He said: it was destined for me. So what is the average of what I feed my family? Shurayḥ said to him: bread, oil, and vinegar is good. He said: and he repeated it to him, and Shurayḥ said that to him three times without adding anything to it. Then he said to him: what do you think if I feed bread and meat? He said: that is the highest food of your family and the food of the people. 9668 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of Ḥajjāj, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Ḥārith, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said concerning the expiation of the oath: he gives them a morning meal and an evening meal of bread and oil, or bread and butter, or vinegar and oil. 9669 - Hannād and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both said: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Zibriqān, on the authority of Abū Razīn: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم: bread, oil, and vinegar. 9670 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Hishām ibn Muḥammad, who said: one meal of bread and meat. He said: and that is from the average of what you feed your families, while you yet eat sweets and fruit. 9671 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, and Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said concerning the expiation of the oath: it suffices that you feed ten needy persons one meal of bread and meat; and if you do not find that, then bread, butter, and milk; and if you do not find that, then bread, vinegar, and oil, until they are satisfied. * - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Zibriqān, who said: I asked Abū Razīn about the expiation of the oath, what one feeds? He said: bread, vinegar, and oil from the average of what you feed your families, and that is their food for one day.
Then the adherents of that differ over the amount of it. Some said: the amount of it is half a ṣāʿ of wheat, or a ṣāʿ of the other grains. The mention of who said that: 9672 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿUmar, who said: I swear an oath and then it appears otherwise to me; when you see me do that, feed ten needy persons, for each needy person two mudd of wheat. 9673 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya and Yaʿlā related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Shaqīq, on the authority of Yasār ibn Numayr, who said: ʿUmar said: I swear that I will give certain people nothing and then it appears otherwise to me, namely that I should give them; when you see me do that, feed ten needy persons on my behalf, for every two needy persons a ṣāʿ of wheat or a ṣāʿ of dates. 9674 - Hannād and Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Salama, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said: the expiation of the oath is the feeding of ten needy persons, for each needy person half a ṣāʿ of wheat. 9675 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم: half a ṣāʿ of wheat for each needy person. 9676 - Hannād related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jazarī, who said: I said to Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: shall I bring them together? He said: no, give them two mudd of wheat, a mudd for his food and a mudd for his condiment. * - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jazarī, who said: I said to Saʿīd, and he mentioned something similar. 9677 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Zayd related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, who said: I asked al-Shaʿbī about the expiation of the oath, and he said: two makkūk: a makkūk for his food and a makkūk for his condiment. 9678 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Hishām related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: for each needy person two mudd. * - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: for each needy person two mudd of wheat in the expiation of the oath. 9679 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: two mudd of food for each needy person. 9680 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Saʿd ibn Yazīd Abū Salama related to us, saying: I asked Jābir ibn Zayd about the feeding of the needy person in the expiation of the oath, and he said: a meal. I said: but al-Ḥasan says: a makkūk of wheat and a makkūk of dates, what do you think of a makkūk of wheat? He said: a makkūk of wheat, no, or a makkūk of dates, no. Yaʿqūb said: Ibn ʿUlayya said: and Abū Salama made a gesture with his hand, as if he approved of it, and Abū Salama turned his hand over. 9681 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: that concerning the expiation of the oath, in which the feeding is obligatory, he used to say: a makkūk of dates and a makkūk of wheat for each needy person. 9682 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said, he said: if he brings them together, he satisfies them with one satisfying meal, and if he gives to them, he gives each of them a makkūk. * - Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, who said: al-Ḥasan used to say: if he gives into their hands, then a makkūk of wheat and a makkūk of dates. 9683 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik concerning the expiation of the oath: half a ṣāʿ for each needy person. 9684 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, concerning His saying: إطعام عشرة مساكين من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: the feeding of half a ṣāʿ for each needy person. 9685 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم: half a ṣāʿ. 9686 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh al-Faḍl ibn Khālid, saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim saying concerning His saying فكفارته إطعام عشرة مساكين: the food for each needy person: half a ṣāʿ of dates or wheat.
And others said: no, the amount of it of each of the grains is one mudd. The mention of who said that: 9687 - Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Hishām al-Dastawāʾī, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, on the authority of Abū Salama, on the authority of Zayd ibn Thābit, that he said concerning the expiation of the oath: a mudd of wheat for each needy person. 9688 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said concerning the expiation of the oath: a mudd of wheat for each needy person, of which a quarter is his condiment. * - Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, something similar. 9689 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAjlān, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar: the feeding of ten needy persons, for each needy person a mudd. * - Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, saying: al-ʿUmarī related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, who said: a mudd of wheat for each needy person. 9690 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar: that he used to expiate the oath with ten amdād by the smaller mudd. 9691 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama, on the authority of ʿUbaydallāh, on the authority of al-Qāsim and Sālim concerning the expiation of the oath: what does one feed? They both said: a mudd for each needy person. 9692 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn Yasār, who said: the people, when one of them expiated, expiated with ten amdād by the smaller mudd. 9693 - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ concerning His saying: إطعام عشرة مساكين, he said: ten amdād for ten needy persons. 9694 - Bishr related to us, saying: Jāmiʿ ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: إطعام عشرة مساكين من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: one used to say: wheat and dates, for each needy person a mudd of dates and a mudd of wheat. 9695 - Abū Kurayb and Hannād related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Mālik ibn Mighwal, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: a mudd for each needy person. 9696 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: from the average of what you maintain them with. He said: and the Muslims considered the average of it a mudd by the mudd of the Messenger of Allah, of wheat. Ibn Zayd said: it is the average of that with which one feeds one's family, not the lowest of it and not the highest of it. 9697 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Sālim informed me, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: a mudd.
And others said: no, that is a morning meal and an evening meal. The mention of who said that: 9698 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar related to us, on the authority of Ḥajjāj, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Ḥārith, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said concerning the expiation of the oath: he gives them a morning meal and an evening meal. 9699 - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Mūsā ibn ʿUbayda, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī concerning the expiation of the oath, he said: a morning meal and an evening meal. 9700 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: he gives them a morning meal and an evening meal.
And others said: by His saying من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم He intended only: from the average of what the one who expiates feeds his family. He said: if he is of those who satisfy their family, he satisfies the ten needy persons; and if he is of those who do not satisfy them on account of his inability to do so, he feeds the needy persons to the measure of what he does with his family of that in his straitened and his easy circumstances. The mention of who said that: 9701 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: فكفارته إطعام عشرة مساكين من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: if you satisfy your family, then satisfy the needy persons, and otherwise to the measure of what you feed your family. * - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: فكفارته إطعام عشرة مساكين من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, and that is that you feed each needy person from something like what you feed your family to satisfaction, or half a ṣāʿ of wheat. 9702 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: according to their straitened and their easy circumstances. 9703 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir, who said: according to their straitened and their easy circumstances. 9704 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn Abī al-Mughīra, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: their food. * - Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Sulaymān al-ʿAbsī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His saying: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: their food. 9705 - Abū Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām ibn Salm related to us, saying: ʿAnbasa related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn ʿUbayd al-ʿAbsī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr concerning His saying: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: they used to favor the free man over the slave (ʿabd) and the elder over the younger, then there was revealed: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم. * - Al-Ḥārith related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sālim al-Afṭas, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: they used to feed the elder with what they did not feed the younger, and they fed the free man with what they did not feed the slave (ʿabd), then He said: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم. 9706 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Juwaybir related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His saying: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: if you satisfy your family, then satisfy them, and if you do not satisfy them, then to the measure of that. * - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Shaybān al-Naḥwī related to us, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم, he said: according to their straitened and their easy circumstances. 9707 - Yūnus related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: the man used to feed a part of his family with meager food and another part with ample food, then Allah said: من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم: bread and oil.
And the correct view in the interpretation of His saying من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم is, in our judgment, the view of him who said: from the average of what you feed your families, in little and much. That is because the rulings of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ concerning all expiations are transmitted in that sense, like his ruling ﷺ concerning the expiation for shaving on account of distress with a faraq of food among six needy persons, for each needy person half a ṣāʿ, and like his ruling concerning the expiation for sexual intercourse in the month of Ramadan with fifteen ṣāʿ among sixty needy persons, for each needy person a quarter ṣāʿ. And from him ﷺ no expiation whatever is known in which he commanded to feed bread and condiment, nor a morning meal and an evening meal. Since that is so, and since the expiation of the oath is one of the expiations that rest upon those upon whom they are obligatory, its course is the same as the course of that concerning which he ﷺ passed the ruling, namely that the obligatory thing for the one who expiates it of food is an amount for the ten needy persons, bounded by a measure, and not their bringing together at a morning meal or evening meal of baked bread with condiment, since his practice (sunna) ﷺ in the other expiations was so. Since what we have said is correct on the basis of that with which we have supported it, it is clear that the interpretation of the words is: but He calls you to account for what you have bound fast with oaths, and the expiation for that is the feeding of ten needy persons from the most balanced of your feeding of your families, and that the "mā" that is in His saying من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم has the meaning of a verbal noun (maṣdar), and not the meaning of a noun. Since that is so, the most balanced food of him who lives amply for his family is two mudd, and that is half a ṣāʿ of which a quarter is the condiment, and that is the highest concerning which the Prophet ﷺ ruled in an expiation regarding the feeding of needy persons; and the most balanced food of him who lives meagerly for his family is a mudd, and that is a quarter ṣāʿ, and that is the lowest concerning which he ruled in an expiation regarding the feeding of needy persons. As for those who held that the feeding of the needy persons in the expiation of the oath is bread and meat and what we earlier mentioned from them, and those who held that one gives a morning meal or an evening meal, and those who held that one gives a morning meal and an evening meal: they proceeded from the interpretation of His saying من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم as: from the average of the food that you feed your families, and thus they made the "mā" that is in His saying من أوسط ما تطعمون أهليكم a noun and not a verbal noun, and imposed upon the one who expiates the obligation to feed the needy persons from the most balanced of what he feeds his family of food. And that is a view that would be correct, were it not for what we have mentioned of the practices of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the other expiations, to which their like cases must of necessity be attached, and that the expiation of the oath has a counterpart and a like to which it must of necessity be attached.
Or the clothing of them
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: أو كسوتهم. The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, intends thereby: the expiation for what you have bound fast with oaths is the feeding of ten needy persons or the clothing of them. He says: either you feed them, or you clothe them, and the choice therein belongs to the one who expiates. The scholars of exegesis differ over the clothing (kiswa) that Allah intended by His saying أو كسوتهم. Some said: thereby He intended the clothing of one garment. The mention of who said that: 9708 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning the clothing of the needy persons in the expiation of the oath: the least of it is a garment. * - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: the least of it is a garment, and the highest of it as much as you wish. 9709 - Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said concerning the expiation of the oath in His saying أو كسوتهم: a garment for each needy person. 9710 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī related to us, on the authority of Wuhayb, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father: أو كسوتهم, he said: a garment. * - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbīda related to us, and Ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both said: Jarīr related to us, all on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: أو كسوتهم, he said: a garment. 9711 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: أو كسوتهم, he said: each one a garment. Manṣūr said: the shirt, or the upper garment, or the loincloth. 9712 - Abū Kurayb and Hannād related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, concerning His saying: أو كسوتهم, he said: the clothing of winter and summer, each one a garment. 9713 - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ concerning His saying: أو كسوتهم, he said: each one a garment for each needy person. 9714 - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbda ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His saying: أو كسوتهم, he said: if he clothes them each with one garment, that suffices for him. 9715 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn Sulaymān al-Rāzī related to us, on the authority of Ibn Sinān, on the authority of Ḥammād, who said: a garment or two garments, and one garment is indispensable. 9716 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: each one a garment for each person, and the cloak sufficed in that time as clothing. * - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: أو كسوتهم, he said: the clothing: a cloak for each needy person or a wrapper. 9717 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik, who said: a garment, or a shirt, or an upper garment, or a loincloth. 9718 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: if the one to whom the oath belongs chooses the clothing, he clothes ten persons, each person a cloak. 9719 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Jurayj informed us, saying: I heard ʿAṭāʾ saying concerning His saying: أو كسوتهم: the clothing: each one a garment.
And some said: thereby He intended: the clothing of two garments each. The mention of who said that: 9720 - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbīda related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, both on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, concerning His saying: أو كسوتهم, he said: a cloak and a turban. * - Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, who said: a turban with which he wraps his head and a cloak with which he covers himself. 9721 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Anṣārī related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and Ibn Sīrīn, both said: two garments each. 9722 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: two garments. * - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, the same. * - Abū Kurayb and Hannād related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: two garments each for each needy person. 9723 - Hannād related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of Abū Mūsā: that he swore an oath and clothed two garments of the woven cloth of al-Baḥrayn. * - Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn: that Abū Mūsā clothed two garments of the woven cloth of al-Baḥrayn. 9724 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā: that Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī swore an oath and deemed it right to expiate, and did that, and Samura clothed two garments each. 9725 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of Muḥammad: that Abū Mūsā swore an oath and expiated, and clothed ten needy persons each two garments. * - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, who said: a cloak and a turban for each needy person. 9726 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the same. 9727 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind related to us, saying: a man said in the presence of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab: "or their feeding (ka-uswatihim)," whereupon Saʿīd said: no, it is only: "or their clothing (kiswatihim)." He said: I said: O Abū Muḥammad, what is their clothing? He said: for each needy person a cloak and a turban, a cloak with which he covers himself and a turban with which he wraps his head. 9728 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh al-Faḍl ibn Khālid, saying: ʿUbayd ibn Salmān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying concerning His saying: أو كسوتهم, he said: the clothing for each needy person: an upper garment and a loincloth, according to what he finds of prosperity or want.
And others said: no, thereby He intended their clothing: one encompassing garment, like the mantle (milḥafa), the wrapper (kisāʾ), and the thing that is suitable to wear and to sleep in. The mention of who said that: 9729 - Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: the clothing: one encompassing garment. 9730 - Hannād and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both said: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His saying: أو كسوتهم, he said: one encompassing garment. He said: and Mughīra said: and the encompassing garment is the mantle or the wrapper or the like, and we do not consider the gown, the shirt, the headscarf, and the like as encompassing. * - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: one encompassing garment. * - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: one encompassing garment. * - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: أو كسوتهم, he said: one encompassing garment for each needy person. * - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān and Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His saying: أو كسوتهم, he said: one encompassing garment. 9731 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Mughīra, the same.
And others said: thereby He intended the clothing of a loincloth, an upper garment, and a shirt. The mention of who said that: 9732 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Burda, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, who said concerning the clothing in the expiation: a loincloth, an upper garment, and a shirt.
And others said: everything with which one clothes suffices, and the verse remains in its generality. The mention of who said that: 9733 - Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Ḥarb related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: in the expiation of the oath everything suffices except the short trousers (tubbān). 9734 - Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: in the expiation of the oath a turban suffices. 9735 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Uways al-Ṣayrafī, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, who said: Salmān said: an excellent garment is the short trousers (tubbān). 9736 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Shaybānī, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, who said: a turban with which he wraps his head.
And the correct view here is, in our judgment, and the most in accordance with the interpretation of the Qurʾān, the view of him who said: by His saying أو كسوتهم He intended what falls under the name of clothing (kiswa), namely a garment and more, because over what is less than a garment there is no disagreement among the entire authoritative community that it does not fall under the scope of the verse; thus what is less than that measure fell outside what Allah the Exalted intended, on the basis of widespread transmission; and the garment and what exceeds it falls under the scope of the verse, since there has come from Allah the Exalted no revelation, nor from His Messenger ﷺ a report, and there is no consensus from the community that it does not fall under its scope; and it is not permissible to take anything that the outward meaning of the verse comprises out of the scope of the verse, except with a proof to which one must of necessity submit, and for that there is no proof.
Or the freeing of a neck (slave)
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: أو تحرير رقبة. The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, intends thereby: or the liberating of a slave (ʿabd) from the captivity of slavery (ʿubūda) and its humiliation. The origin of taḥrīr (freeing) is: the liberation from captivity, and of that is the saying of al-Farazdaq ibn Ghālib: "O sons of Ghadāna, I have freed you (ḥarrartukum) and bestowed you upon ʿAṭiyya ibn Jaʿāl" — he means by his saying "ḥarrartukum": I have liberated your necks from the humiliation of disgrace and the persistence of shame. And one says: taḥrīr raqaba (the freeing of a neck), where the muḥarrar is the owner of the neck; for it was the custom of the Arabs that, when they took a captive, they bound his hands to his neck with a shackle or a rope or something else, and when they released him from captivity, they loosened his hands and freed them from that with which they were bound to the neck. Thus the usage at their releasing of the captive became the reporting about the freeing of his hands from his neck, while they intended the reporting about his release from captivity, as one says: so-and-so withdrew his hand from so-and-so, when he holds back his hand from his gift; and he stretched out his tongue against him, when he says evil about him; thus the action is attributed to the limb with which that action takes place and not to the doer of it, on account of the people's usage of that among themselves and their knowledge of the meaning of it. So it is also in the saying of Allah, the Exalted whose mention is exalted: أو تحرير رقبة, where the taḥrīr (freeing) is attributed to the neck, even though there was no shackle on his neck nor a hand bound to it, and what is intended by taḥrīr is the very person of the slave, on account of what we have described of the common usage of the people of that among themselves through their knowledge of the meaning of it.
And if someone says: is thereby intended every neck (raqaba) or only a part of it? Then it is said: no, thereby is intended every neck that is free of lameness, blindness, dumbness, the cutting off or paralysis of the hands, and outright madness, and the like; for the one who has such a thing or anything of that among the necks (slaves), over that there is no disagreement among all of the authoritative community that he does not suffice in the expiation of the oath. From that it is known that Allah the Exalted did not intend him by the taḥrīr in this verse. As for the young and the old, the Muslim and the unbeliever (kāfir): they are indeed intended by it. And in the sense of what we have said about this, a group of the scholars spoke. The mention of who said that: 9737 - Hannād related to us, saying: Mughīra related to us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, that he used to say: whoever has an obligatory neck (slave to free) upon himself and buys a human soul — he said: if he finds it fit for work, it suffices for him; and the freeing of him who does not work is not permissible; as for the one who works, like the one-eyed and the like; and as for the one who does not work, he does not suffice, like the blind and the lame. 9738 - Hannād related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: he used to disapprove of the freeing of the feeble-minded in any of the expiations. 9739 - Hannād related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: that he did not deem the freeing of him who has lost his reason valid in any of the expiations.
And some said: in the expiation there suffices of the necks (slaves) only a sound one, and the young one suffices therein. The mention of who said that: 9740 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: in the neck (slave) there suffices only a sound one. 9741 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: the one born in Islam suffices as a neck (slave). 9742 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: what stands in the Qurʾān as "a believing neck (raqaba muʾmina)," of that there suffices only one who fasts and prays; and what is not a believing one, of that the child suffices.
And some said: one does not call the newborn a neck (raqaba) until a time has passed over him. The mention of who said that: 9743 - Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Rifāʿī related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Shuʿayb ibn Shābūr, on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn al-Mundhir, on the authority of Sulaymān, who said: when the child is born, it is a nasama (soul), and when it turns over from its back to its belly, it is a raqaba (neck), and when it prays, it is believing (muʾmina).
And the correct view in the saying here is, in our judgment, that it is said: Allah the Exalted has, by the mention of the neck (raqaba), comprised every neck, so whichever neck the one who expiates his oath frees in his expiation, he has carried out what is imposed upon him, except for what we mentioned, namely that the authoritative community is unanimous that Allah the Exalted did not intend him by the taḥrīr; that falls outside the scope of the verse, and what falls outside it, the freeing of it in the expiation is permissible according to the outward meaning of the revelation. And the one who expiates has the choice in the expiating of his oath that he has broken by means of one of these three cases that Allah has named in His Book, namely: the feeding of ten needy persons from the average of what he feeds his family, or the clothing of them, or the freeing of a neck (slave), by the consensus of all, without disagreement over that among them. And if someone supposes that what we have said, namely that this is a consensus of all, is not as we have said, on account of that which: 9744 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī al-Shawārib related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād related to us, saying: Sulaymān al-Shaybānī related to us, saying: Abū al-Ḍuḥā related to us, on the authority of Masrūq, who said: al-Nuʿmān ibn Muqarrin came to ʿAbdallāh (ibn Masʿūd) and said: I have abjured women and the bed! Then ʿAbdallāh read this verse: لا تحرموا طيبات ما أحل الله لكم ولا تعتدوا إن الله لا يحب المعتدين ("do not forbid the good things that Allah has made lawful for you, and do not transgress; truly Allah does not love the transgressors"). He said: then al-Nuʿmān said: I asked you only because I had come upon this verse. Then ʿAbdallāh said: go to the women, sleep, and free a neck (slave), for you are well-to-do. * - Yūnus related to me, Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim related to me that Sulaymān al-Aʿmash told him, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Yazīd al-Nakhaʿī, on the authority of Hammām ibn al-Ḥārith: that al-Nuʿmān ibn Muqarrin asked ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd and said: I have sworn that I will not sleep on my bed for a year! Then Ibn Masʿūd said: يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا تحرموا طيبات ما أحل الله لكم ("O you who believe, do not forbid the good things that Allah has made lawful for you"), expiate your oath and sleep on your bed! He said: with what do I expiate my oath? He said: free a neck (slave), for you are well-to-do.
And such reports as are transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd and Ibn ʿUmar and others — that occurred from them by way of recommendation (istiḥbāb) for the one whom they commanded to expiate with that with which they commanded him to expiate, namely the necks (slaves), not because the expiating for the well-to-do would suffice with them only with the neck; for no one has transmitted from any of them that he said: the expiating suffices for the well-to-do only with the neck. And all of the scholars of the cities, their ancients and their moderns, are unanimous that the expiating with something other than the necks is permissible for the well-to-do, and in that there is enough without the support of the correctness of what we have said here with something else.
And whoever does not find it, then the fasting of three days
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فمن لم يجد فصيام ثلاثة أيام. The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: and whoever does not find for the expiation of his oath that he is obligated to expiate, of food, clothing, and necks, that with which he expiates it according to what we have prescribed and imposed upon him in our Book and by the mouth of our Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ, فصيام ثلاثة أيام (then the fasting of three days), He says: upon him rests the fasting of three days.
Then the scholars differ over the meaning of His saying فمن لم يجد, and when the one who has broken his oath and upon whom the expiation rests deserves the name "not-finding," so that he is of those for whom the fasting therein holds. Some said: if the breaker at the moment of the expiating of his oath has nothing more than the measure of his food and the food of his family for his day and his night, then he may expiate with the fasting; and if he has at that moment his food and the food of his family for his day and his night and beyond that a surplus with which he can feed ten needy persons or with which he can clothe them, then upon him rests the expiating with the feeding or the clothing, and the fasting does not then suffice for him. And among those who said that is al-Shāfiʿī. That al-Rabīʿ related to us on his authority. And this view aims — if Allah wills — at him who made the feeding obligatory upon whoever possesses two dirham, and at him who made it obligatory upon whoever possesses three dirham. And in that sense: 9745 - Hannād related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād ibn Salama, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: if he has nothing except three dirham, he feeds. He said: that is, in the expiation. 9746 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to me, saying: I said to ʿUmar ibn Rāshid: the man swears and has of food only the measure with which he expiates? He said: Qatāda used to say: he fasts three days. 9747 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: if he possesses two dirham. 9748 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Abī Umayya, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: three dirham.
And others said: it is permissible for whoever does not possess two hundred dirham to fast, and he is of the not-finding. And others said: it is permissible to fast for whoever has no surplus above his capital with which he conducts his livelihood, so as to expiate thereby with the feeding, unless he has sufficient means with which he conducts his livelihood and beyond that a surplus with which he can expiate his oath. And this is a view that some later jurists used to hold.
And the correct view in the saying here is, in our judgment, that whoever at the moment of his breaking of his oath has only the measure of his food and the food of his family for his day and his night, with no surplus above that, fasts three days, and he belongs to the group of those who do not find wherewith to feed, clothe, or free. And if he has at that moment a surplus above his food and the food of his family for his day and his night, with which he can feed or clothe ten needy persons or free a neck (slave), then the fasting does not then suffice for him; for one of the three cases — feeding, clothing, or freeing — is then a right that Allah the Exalted has made obligatory in his property as the obligation of a debt, and it is established that the bankrupt, when he distributes his property among his creditors, retains on that day nothing except what is indispensable to him of his food and the food of his family for his day and his night; so too is the ruling concerning the destitute one with the debt that Allah the Exalted has made obligatory in his property on account of the expiation that rests upon his property.
And the scholars differ over the nature of the fasting that Allah has made obligatory in the expiation of the oath. Some said: the nature of it is that it is consecutive among the three days, not dispersed. The mention of who said that: 9749 - Muḥammad ibn al-ʿAlāʾ related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: every fasting in the Qurʾān is consecutive, except the making up of Ramadan, for that is "a number of other days." 9750 - Abū Kurayb and Hannād related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, who said: Ubayy ibn Kaʿb used to read: "the fasting of three consecutive days (mutatābiʿāt)." * - ʿAbd al-Aʿlā ibn Wāṣil al-Asadī related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb: that he used to read: "the fasting of three consecutive days." 9751 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, on the authority of Qazaʿa ibn Suwayd, on the authority of Sayf ibn Sulaymān, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: in the reading of ʿAbdallāh (ibn Masʿūd): "the fasting of three consecutive days." 9752 - Hannād related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: in our reading: "the fasting of three consecutive days." * - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, the same. 9753 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: in the reading of the adherents of ʿAbdallāh: "the fasting of three consecutive days." 9754 - Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿĀmir, who said: in the reading of ʿAbdallāh: "the fasting of three consecutive days." 9755 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq: in the reading of ʿAbdallāh: "the fasting of three consecutive days." 9756 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, who said: the adherents of ʿAbdallāh used to read: "the fasting of three consecutive days." 9757 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, saying: I heard Sufyān saying: if he disperses the fasting of three days, it does not suffice for him. He said: and I heard him saying about a man who fasted in the expiation of an oath and then broke his fast: he begins the fasting anew. 9758 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Jāmiʿ ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: فصيام ثلاثة أيام, he said: if he does not find food; and in some readings there stood: "the fasting of three consecutive days," and to that Qatāda held. 9759 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: he has the choice in these three, the first after the first; and if he finds nothing of that, then the fasting of three consecutive days.
And others said: it is permissible for whoever fasts them to fast them as he wishes, together or dispersed. The mention of who said that: 9760 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ashhab informed us, saying: Mālik said: everything that Allah names in the Qurʾān of the fasting, that it be fasted consecutively is more pleasing to me, but if he disperses them, I hope that it suffices for him.
And the correct view in the saying here is, in our judgment, that it is said: Allah the Exalted has imposed upon whoever has the expiation of an oath upon himself, if he finds no way to expiate it with the feeding, the clothing, or the freeing, to expiate it with the fasting of three days, and He has not stipulated consecutiveness therein as a condition; so however the one who expiates fasts them, dispersed or consecutive, it suffices for him, for Allah the Exalted has imposed upon him only the fasting of three days, so however he carries out their fasting, it suffices. As for what is transmitted from Ubayy and Ibn Masʿūd, namely their reading "the fasting of three consecutive days": that is contrary to what stands in our codices, and it is not permissible for us to testify about anything that is not in our codices of the text that it is from the Book of Allah. Nevertheless I prefer for the one who fasts in the expiation of the oath that he make the three days consecutive and not disperse them, because there is no disagreement among all that, if he does that, it suffices for him of his expiation, while they differ over the other; and the performing of that over which no one disagrees whether it is permissible is more pleasing to me, even though the other is permissible.
That is the expiation for your oaths when you have sworn
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: ذلك كفارة أيمانكم إذا حلفتم. The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, intends by His saying ذلك (that): this is what I have named to you as being كفارة أيمانكم (the expiation for your oaths), namely the feeding of the ten needy persons or the clothing of them or the freeing of the neck (slave), and the fasting of the three [days].
