Tafheem ul Quran
Surah 5 Al-Ma'idah, Ayat 89-89
لَا يُؤَاخِذُكُمُ اللّٰهُ بِاللَّغۡوِ فِىۡۤ اَيۡمَانِكُمۡ وَلٰـكِنۡ يُّؤَاخِذُكُمۡ بِمَا عَقَّدْتُّمُ الۡاَيۡمَانَ ۚ فَكَفَّارَتُهٗۤ اِطۡعَامُ عَشَرَةِ مَسٰكِيۡنَ مِنۡ اَوۡسَطِ مَا تُطۡعِمُوۡنَ اَهۡلِيۡكُمۡ اَوۡ كِسۡوَتُهُمۡ اَوۡ تَحۡرِيۡرُ رَقَبَةٍ ؕ فَمَنۡ لَّمۡ يَجِدۡ فَصِيَامُ ثَلٰثَةِ اَيَّامٍ ؕ ذٰ لِكَ كَفَّارَةُ اَيۡمَانِكُمۡ اِذَا حَلَفۡتُمۡ ؕ وَاحۡفَظُوۡۤا اَيۡمَانَكُمۡ ؕ كَذٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللّٰهُ لَـكُمۡ اٰيٰتِهٖ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَشۡكُرُوۡنَ
﴿5:89﴾
(5:89) Allah does not take you to task for the oaths you utter vainly, but
He will certainly take you to task for the oaths you have sworn in earnest.
The expiation (for breaking such oaths) is either to feed ten needy persons
with more or less the same food as you are wont to give to your families, or
to clothe them, or to set free from bondage the neck of one man; and he who
does not find the means shall fast for three days. This shall be the expiation
for your oaths whenever you have sworn (and broken them.)106 But
do keep your oaths.107 Thus does Allah make clear to you His commandments;
maybe you will be grateful.
Notes
106. Since some people had taken an oath prohibiting for themselves the things
which He had permitted, God laid down this injunction regarding oaths made inadvertently.
The injunction makes it unnecessary to feel bound by the terms of inadvertent
oaths, and for which one will not be reproached by God. And if a person had
deliberately made an oath which entails sin he should not abide by his oath
and should expiate it (see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. I, (Surah 2,nn. 243-4); for expiation see
(Surah 4, n. 125) above.
107. To be mindful of one's oaths has several meanings. First, one should
make proper use of oaths and should not employ them either frivolously or sinfully.
Second, when a person takes an oath, he should take care not to forget it lest
he be led to break it. Third, when a man deliberately takes an oath regarding
something sound in itself he should pay the penalty if he happens to violate
it.