The following are considered the most solemn and binding methods of taking an oath:—
1. Saying three times “by the Great God.”
2. Taking the Qurʾān and saying, “by what this contains of the word of God.”
3. By placing a sword on the Qurʾān.
4. By saying, “I impose upon myself divorcement.”
Muḥammad himself was rather given to swearing, and the Qurʾān is full of wild oaths, one of the most terrible of which, according to the Prophet’s own words, is to “swear by the setting stars.” ([Sūrah lvi. 74].)
Burckhardt, in his notes on the Bedouin Arabs, says that these children of the desert often take hold of the middle of a tent pole and swear by the life of the tent and its owners.
As might be expected, from the example set them by their Prophet, Muḥammadans are commonly guilty of taking God’s name in vain by swearing upon every petty occasion. Like the μα Δία of the Greeks, the word is hardly ever out of their mouths.
[For further information on the subject of Oaths, see Hamilton’s Hidāyah, book vi.; the Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār, the Raddu ʾl-Muḥtār, and the Fatāwā-i-ʿĀlamgīrī, in loco, in which there are chapters devoted to the consideration of oaths and vows made under all circumstances of life, e.g. with respect to entering places of residence; with regard to actions; with respect to eating and drinking, speaking and conversing; of vows in manumission and divorce; with respect to buying and selling, marriage, clothing, wearing ornaments, striking, killing, the payment of money, &c. &c.]
OATH, The administration of an. An oath in a court of justice is not worthy of credit unless it be taken in the name of God, because Muḥammad said, “Whosoever takes an oath otherwise than in the name of God, is most certainly a polytheist.” It is incumbent upon the Qāẓī, or judge, to request the swearer to corroborate his oath by reciting some of the attributes of God. For example, “I swear by God, the Righteous, the Knower of Secrets,” &c. A defendant must not be required to swear by divorce or emancipation, as if he should say: “If it be true my wife is divorced, or my slave is free.”