Expiation of Oaths

Not every time the name of Allah crosses our lips is it a binding oath. This short chapter draws a gentle line between a vow we truly intend and the words that slip out by habit, the reflexive 'No, by Allah' or 'Yes, by Allah' we say without meaning to swear at all. The Arabic term is laghw, the idle or unintentional speech, and the mercy here is that Allah does not hold us to account for it.

Read this alongside the chapters that warn against careless swearing, and notice the balance: the tongue is to be guarded, yet our Lord is forgiving of what the heart never set out to do. What He weighs is intention, not the accident of speech.