لَا يُؤَاخِذُكُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِٱللَّغْوِ فِىٓ أَيْمَٰنِكُمْ وَلَٰكِن يُؤَاخِذُكُم بِمَا عَقَّدتُّمُ ٱلْأَيْمَٰنَ
"God does not hold you to account for the empty word in your oaths; but He holds you to account for the oaths you have knowingly bound."
| Kind | Word | Root |
|---|---|---|
| Not giving rise to liability | al-Laghw | ل-غ-و — empty, unintended speech |
| Giving rise to liability | Mā ʿaqqadtumu'l-aymān | ع-ق-د — to tie a knot, to bind |
The primary sense of the root ʿaqd is the knotting of a rope; the sūra had opened with this root: awfū bi'l-ʿuqūd (5/1). The same root comes eighty-nine verses later for oaths. This repetition can be verified from the text.
| Order | Option | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feeding ten poor people | Min awsaṭi mā tuṭʿimūna ahlīkum — from the average of what you feed your own household |
| 2 | Clothing them | — |
| 3 | Freeing a slave | — |
| 4 | Three days of fasting | Fa-man lam yajid — for the one who cannot find the means |
I record this as an observation, and its ground is the qualification awsaṭ: the measure is not an amount set from outside but the person's own table — and by saying awsaṭ (the middle) both the best and the worst are left out.
On the details of the expiation (the amount, the extent of the clothing, whether the fasts must be consecutive) the schools of law differ; no legal preference is adopted in this commentary.
وَٱحْفَظُوٓا۟ أَيْمَٰنَكُمْ — and after setting out the expiation the sentence returns to what is really asked: guarding one's oaths. That is, the way out is given not as a convenience but as an exception.