Title: Further Discussion on Qur'anic Oaths Question/Comments: Before I ask my question i would like to know the difference between swearing on created things and swearing by created things through a islamic perspective. Allah swears BY created objects in the Qur'aan and no one in his/her right mind believes that these objects are Allahs authority or another greater god compared to Allah.but some people have said that for a human being to swear by taking oath by saying " i SWEAR BY the qur'aan" automatically means that the Qur'aan is your god and authority. i don't get that at all.isn't this issue connected to the persons intentions? if i were to take oath by swearing on the qur'aan that would be a way of proving my statement or to make my statement convincing right? there are hadeeths that say it is a sin to take oath by any other than Allah aren't these hadeeths then against the Qur'aanic oaths? Is it a sin to swear by a persons mothers life or passed events? Can you please help me out here I asked a salafi to show me where in al-qur'aan does it prohibit you from taking oaths by NOT MENTIONING ALLAHS NAME he responded by saying where does it say not to take a oath by mentioning uzza's , laats name? I responded that these people had raised these idols status to Almighty God and the Qur'aan has refuted that these feeble idols are gods daughters so it is obvious that Allah would not allow anyone to take oaths by mentioning the name of false dieties. brother please can you give a clear answer to this issue because there are people who firmly believe that if i were to say to a athiest "I SWEAR BY THE DAY OF RUSSERECTION that you will brought back to life after you have died" is MINOR SHIRK.But Allah swears by the day of the ressurection in surah al qiyaam first ayah.and what do i mean when i say this? have i made qiyaamah = to Allah? how have i commited minor shirk? Answer: There are certain things that you need to consider: God's swearing by created things in the Qur'an is not at all comparable with human beings swearing by created things. This is simply because God is God and we are us. Moreover the reason God swears by created things is completely different from the reason that usually human beings swear by things (please refer to the answer to the original question to see an explanation). There are a number of ahadith that do suggest that swearing by anything but God is not allowed. For instance: "Narrated By Ibn 'Umar : Allah's Apostle met 'Umar bin Al-Khattab while the latter was going with a group of camel-riders, and he was swearing by his father. The Prophet said, "Lo! Allah forbids you to swear by your fathers, so whoever has to take an oath, he should swear by Allah or keep quiet." (Bukhari, book 78, number 641). Most of the classic scholars (on the basis of these ahadith) are of the opinion that swearing by anything other than God is not allowed. They even argue whether it is allowed to swear by attributes of God (like his power, mercy, etc.). More deliberation on these ahadith results in the observation that the reason behind this disallowance was to avoid the act or/and the thought of Shirk (considering partners for God). This is because before the establishment of Tawhid (Monotheism) in Arabia, it was a custom that people some times took oath by invoking created objects with a belief that they had some sort of power over their destiny. It is because of this that we see ahadith like the following: Narated By Abu Huraira : The Prophet said, "Whoever swears saying in his oath. 'By Al-Lat and Al'Uzza,' should say, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah... (Bukhari, volume 78, No. 645) It is perhaps the above observation that makes some of the scholars to adapt a more flexible opinion about the issue. Ibn Hajar explains this opinion of some of the scholars by the following words: "... (when a person swears by other than God), if he believes in any greatness in what he swears by, in a way that this greatness is really believed for God, then the oath will be Haram and the person (by this belief) will become Kafir and this hadith (i.e. about impermissibility of swearing by anything but God) applies to him. However if some one swears by other than God to refer to the (partial) greatness that really fits with what he has sworn by, then this oath is not Kufr." (Fat'hol-Bari, Vol 11, page 531). The above means that it all depends on the Niyyah (intention). If a person swears by something because he consciously or subconsciously believes that what he has sworn by has any of the God's attributes then not only is the swearing haram but this is in fact an act of Shirk. If however a person swears by something because of its own limited greatness (with absolutely no belief or intention to consider this greatness to be equal with that of God's attributes), then "swearing by it" will not be haram. It is not recommended to get into the habit of "swearing by" a lot. When a person uses oaths too frequently this itself makes the statements of the person to be perceived as less reliable by others. This can also lower the credibility of what the person swears by in the eyes of people. Oaths are to be taken in absolutely necessary situation. These situations usually do not happen often in the life of a normal person. It is narrated in Bukhari: "The Prophet was asked, "Who are the best people?" He replied: The people of my generation, and then those who will follow (come after) them, and then those who will come after the later; after that there will come some people whose witness will precede their oaths and their oaths will go ahead of their witness." Ibrahim (a sub-narrator) said, "When we were young, our elder friends used to prohibit us from taking oaths by saying, 'I bear witness swearing by Allah, or by Allah's Covenant.'" To conclude, it does not seem that every swearing by other than God should be deemed as Haram. If a person swears by something without intending to equalise any of its attributes with God's attributes then this seems to be fine. On the other hand, on a more general note it is evident that the habit of using oaths in one's statements too frequently is something that is not liked by those who fear God. It is much better to avoid taking oaths unless there are absolutely necessary circumstances. Abdullah Rahim