| Surah al-Baqarah, Verse 225
"Allah does not hold you accountable for what is ineffectual in your oaths, but holds you accountable for what your hearts have caused. And Allah is Forgiving, Forebearing." (2:225)
Note
The laghw or ineffectual oath has two meanings:
(i) In the first case it means a false oath sworn without volition over something in the past, or it could have been sworn with volition while the oath-taker considers it to be true in his supposition. For example, guided by his information and supposition, one ends up declaring on oath that a certain person has arrived while that person had not arrived in reality.
Similarly, if someone swears on oath for something in future unintentionally, while he has been actually wanting to say something else, but the words of oath come out of his lips mistakenly, this type of oath also falls in this category. All these three types are not an act of sin and that is why they are called laghw or ineffectual. This act will not be reprehensible in the Hereafter (Akhirah). As compared to this, the oath which has been declared reprehensible is the one that has been uttered intentionally knowing it to be false. This is known as ghamus (perjury), and is an act of sin, but according to the Hanafiyyah, it does not require kaffarah or expiation.
Therefore, laghw, in the sense explained earlier, involves no kaffarah more obviously, (because it is not a sinful act). The verse under discussion exclusively takes up these two categories that carry no kaffarah.
(ii) Laghw also means that which has no kaffarah. It will be called as laghw because it does not entail the liability of Kaffarah in this world.
Given this meaning, the word, laghw is inclusive of ghamus, which being an act of sin, however, does not require kaffarah.
As compared to this, the oath that requires kaffarah is called mun'aqidah (that which is established, confirmed: fait accompli). For instance, if someone intentionally declares on oath to the effect that he or she would or would not perform a certain act, then, acting contrarily requires kaffarah. (Bayan al-Qur'an)
» Posted by Seifeddine-M on 20th July 2011
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