A study of Oaths in Quran

A study of Oaths in Quran

Evidence from the Qur’ān

It has been sufficiently proved that the basic purpose of an oath is to ratify a statement.
⦁ It has also been established that gloriousness of the muqsam bihī is not a necessary characteristic of the oath. This is an additional thing obtained only when the oath is taken by God and His sha‘ā’ir.
⦁ It has also been explained that sometimes oaths are brought merely as evidence. These premises make it clear that the oaths of the Qur’ān upon which objections have been made are the oaths brought to furnish proofs and bring evidence from the facts mentioned as the muqsam bihī, for the claims made in the muqsam ‘alayhi.
⦁ Someone may, while admitting that oaths are basically brought for bearing witness to a fact, claim that oaths have been widely used for the sake of glorification of the muqsam bihī. This change in its usage has grown to be a reality.
⦁ The real essence of the oaths (i.e. evidencing a muqsam ‘alayhi by force of evidence provided by the muqsam bihī) has lost significance. That is why we have been forbidden to take an oath by other than God. We will therefore not turn to the essence of an oath unless we find a separate decisive proof for the fact that it has been taken in the original (now obsolete) sense.” To this our response would be this. We do accept your claim.
⦁ However, the Qur’ān itself has led us to the conclusion that the essence of the oaths has to be taken in consideration while attempting to interpret the Qur’ānic oaths.
⦁ Oaths have different aspects and significations from which we adopt the one which corresponds to the exalted position of God. All other significations which are not appropriate for God cannot be taken to be applied in the Qur’ānic oaths.
⦁ We see that the Qur’ān mentions an argument in the form of oaths at one occasion and then presents the same arguments, at other occasions, in simple form. In both these cases, the basic purpose is to evidence a fact for the benefit of those who ponder over the Qur’ān. God Almighty says: Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of night and day; in the boats that sail the oceans with cargoes beneficial to man; and in the water, which God sent down from the sky and with which He revived the earth after its death and dispersed over it all kinds of living creatures; in the variation of the winds and in the clouds put to service, between earth and the skies: surely, in these there are many signs for men endowed with reason. (Q 2:164)
⦁ Verses of this kind abound in the Qur’ān. They refer to various signs in order to bring evidence for and prove some important theses. When we ponder over the oaths, we see that it is but these things which have been used in the oaths as evidences of certain facts. A reading of the oath verses would help us observe this fact.
⦁ The Qur’ān swears by the heavens, the earth, sun, moon, A Study of the Qur’ānic Oaths 65 night, day, morning, forenoon, winds, clouds, mountains, seas, cities, man, father, son, male, female, odd and even. These are but the same phenomena which are referred to as evidencing facts in other places. Thus their status of being evidence has been clearly explained by the Qur’ān itself in other places. These sign verses serve for us as a precedence to interpret the oaths. We may, therefore, not interpret such oaths as serving the purpose of glorification of the things put as the muqsam bihī.
⦁ The nature of the muqsam bihī itself shows that the oaths have basically not been brought to refer to the glorification of these things. No man endowed with the power of reason can imagine God Almighty placing His creatures on the position of a sacred deity, especially when these things are never supposed to have any kind of sacredness attached to them. What glorification do the panting horses and the winds that scatter dust have? Things used as muqsam bihī, including the heavens, earth, sun, moon, stars, etc, have elsewhere been clearly told to be among objects controlled, harnessed and led on will. Merely swearing by these insignificant things is enough proof that they are only brought as witnesses and proofs, and not as anything glorious.

⦁ A study of logical relation and connection between the muqsam bihī and the muqsam ‘alayhi guides us to our preferred interpretation of this type of the Qur’ānic oaths. The Qur’ān has used such oaths in a style where a rational being never fails to discern that they testify to the facts sworn of. That is why we see that the author of Tafsīr al-Kabīr, Imām Rāzī (in spite of his view that the oaths express glory of the muqsam bihī and in spite of the fact that he has gone to excesses while explaining the oaths by the fig and the olive in terms of glorification) did not miss the general aspect of evidence in such oaths. While dealing with the oaths occurring in the beginning of Sūrah al-Dhāriyāt (Q. 51), he writes: “All these are evidences and proofs couched in the form of oaths.”84 Had he pondered over all such oaths which have been brought to evidence some facts in the Qur’ān, he would have opted for the same interpretation in all instances of the use of evidentiary oaths.
⦁ This oath covers everything, hidden or manifest. This general reference has been made at another occasion: There is nothing which does not exalt Him with praises. (Q 17:44)
Reference Link

The Style of the Quran

In some passages of the Quran, God takes oaths by His marvelous creation to strengthen an argument or to dispel doubts in the mind of the listener,
“By the sun and its brightness,
by the moon when it follows it,
by the day when it displays it,
by the night when it covers it,
by the sky and He who constructed it,
by the earth and He who spread it,
by the soul and He who proportioned it...”
Sometimes God takes an oath by Himself:“But no, by your Lord, they will not (truly) believe until they make you, (O Muhammad), judge concerning that over which they dispute among themselves and then find within themselves no
discomfort from what you have judged and submit in (full, willing)
submission.” (Quran 4:65)

Reference Link