Al-Qawl al-Mufid ala Kitab al-Tawhid — Volume 2 (القول المفيد على كتاب التوحيد) — Page 329

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

أَنَّهُ كَذِبٌ وَالْكَذِبُ مُحَرَّمٌ لِذَاتِهِ

1 - It is a lie, and lying is forbidden in and of itself.

أَنَّ هَذَا الْكَذِبَ قُرِنَ بِالْيَمِينِ، وَالْيَمِينُ تَعْظِيمُ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ، فَإِذَا كَانَ عَلَى كَذِبٍ صَارَ فِيهِ شَيْءٌ مِنْ تَنَقُّصِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ حَيْثُ جَعَلَ اسْمَهُ مُؤَكِّدًا لِأَمْرٍ كَذِبٍ، وَلِذَلِكَ كَانَ الْحَلِفُ بِاللَّهِ كَاذِبًا عِنْدَ بَعْضِ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ مِنَ الْيَمِينِ الْغَمُوسِ الَّتِي تَغْمِسُ صَاحِبَهَا فِي الْإِثْمِ فِي النَّارِ.

2 - This lie is coupled with an oath, and an oath is an act of glorifying Allah, the Almighty and Majestic; therefore, if it is based on a lie, it involves a degree of belittling Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, as he has made His name a confirmation for a false matter, and for this reason, swearing falsely by Allah is considered by some scholars to be the 'perjured oath' (al-yamin al-ghamous) that plunges its companion into sin and into the Fire.

وَأَمَّا الْحَلِفُ بِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ صَادِقًا فَهُوَ مُحَرَّمٌ مِنْ وَجْهٍ وَاحِدٍ وَهُوَ الشِّرْكُ، لَكِنَّ سَيِّئَةَ الشِّرْكِ أَعْظَمُ مِنْ سَيِّئَةِ الْكَذِبِ، وَأَعْظَمُ مِنْ سَيِّئَةِ الْحَلِفِ بِاللَّهِ كَاذِبًا، وَأَعْظَمُ مِنَ الْيَمِينِ الْغَمُوسِ إِذَا قُلْنَا إِنَّ الْحَلِفَ بِاللَّهِ كَاذِبًا مِنَ الْيَمِينِ الْغَمُوسِ؛ لِأَنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَا يُغْفَرُ قَالَ تَعَالَى: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ (١)، وَمَا أَرْسَلَ اللَّهُ الرُّسُلَ وَأَنْزَلَ الْكُتُبَ إِلَّا لِإِبْطَالِ الشِّرْكِ فَهُوَ أَعْظَمُ الذُّنُوبِ قَالَ تَعَالَى: إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ (٢) وَسُئِلَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ أَيُّ الذَّنْبِ أَعْظَمُ قَالَ: «أَنْ تَجْعَلَ لِلَّهِ نِدًّا وَهُوَ خَلَقَكَ»، وَالشِّرْكُ مُتَضَمِّنٌ لِلْكَذِبِ فَإِنَّ الَّذِي جَعَلَ غَيْرَ اللَّهِ شَرِيكًا لِلَّهِ كَاذِبٌ؛ لِأَنَّ اللَّهَ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ.

As for swearing by other than Allah while being truthful, it is forbidden from one perspective, which is polytheism (shirk), but the sin of polytheism is greater than the sin of lying, greater than the sin of swearing falsely by Allah, and greater than the perjured oath if we say that swearing falsely by Allah is among the perjured oaths; this is because polytheism is not forgiven, as the Almighty said: 'Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him' (1), and Allah did not send messengers or reveal scriptures except to invalidate polytheism, so it is the greatest of sins, as the Almighty said: 'Indeed, polytheism is a great injustice' (2), and the Prophet (peace be upon him) was asked which sin is the greatest, and he said: 'That you set up a rival to Allah while He created you.' Polytheism also entails lying, for whoever makes other than Allah a partner to Allah is a liar, because Allah has no partner.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (22 verbs · 29 nouns)

• كَذَبَ — to lie
• قَرَنَ — to couple
• عَزَّ — to be mighty
• كَذِبٌ — lie
• يَمِينٌ — oath
• تَعْظِيمٌ — veneration