Sharh · explanationclick to expand
Allah granted his Prophet ﷺ the most comprehensive words so he used to preach and teach people with the fewest words that carried many meanings to hearts. In this hadith, he clarifies that a person is not obliged to fulfill a vow about something he does not possess such as his saying, “If Allah cured my son, I would slaughter my neighbor’s cow.” A vow is to commit oneself to carry out a mandatory matter. The Prophet ﷺ adds, “Cursing a believer is like murdering him.” Cursing is to ask Allah to expel someone from His mercy while murdering him is to expel him from life. This is one of the greatest Prophetic warnings against cursing Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ adds that whoever kills himself by using something sharp, drinking something poisonous, or falling from a mountain, Allah will punish him in the same way he kills himself in the hereafter. Thus, the punishment will be of the same type as the crime. The Prophet ﷺ adds that if a person makes a false claim, regarding linage or rights, to obtain money or benefits, Allah will give him less instead of more. As a result, if he falsely claims to obtain lots of money, Allah will contrarily decrease his money. Instead of gaining more benefits, he will gain less bliss. The last sin the Prophet ﷺ adds is to falsely swear an oath before a judge or ruler to falsely take others’ rights or benefits. He mentions the punishment in another hadith narrated by Ibn Masoud in the Two Sahihs that the Prophet ﷺ said, “If anyone falsely swears an oath which he is asked to take (by a judge or so) to usurp a Muslim’s property, he will meet Allah Who will be angry with him.” Allah confirms this meaning in his saying, “Verily, those who purchase a small gain at the cost of Allah’s Covenant and their oaths, they shall have no portion in the Hereafter (Paradise). Neither will Allah speak to them, nor look at them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them, and they shall have a painful torment.” (Aal Imran: 77) They replace Allah’s covenant and sacred oaths with their temporary worldly whims of money, benefits, etc. Allah describes the price as low out of demeaning it, for they betray Allah’s covenant and dare to falsely swear by his name. Their gain is little whatever its amounts in comparison to Allah’s pleasing and fulfilling His covenants. Finally, this hadith contains the following benefits: (1) It is forbidden to take vows except for what one owns, and (2) It is forbidden to falsely swear by Allah..