قسم کھا کر مال بیچنا

Abū Qatāda (RA) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Beware of swearing many oaths in trade (that is, in selling), for although it may (supposedly) make business go well, it afterwards wipes out the blessing.” (Muslim)

An oath is a very great social and moral bond. When no legal means remains for ascertaining the truth and the reality of a matter, then at that point the matter is left to a person's own faith and conscience, and it is then that it becomes clear how far he acts upon the commands of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, and to what extent, by speaking the truth and demonstrating honesty, he saves himself from the painful outcome of the Hereafter for the sake of some trifling worldly gain. It is, as it were, a mutual covenant of all humanity in which every person is bound.

Some merchants and shopkeepers swear many oaths to sell their goods, seeking through oaths to induce the customer to buy — which is a most improper use of Allah's blessed name. In this noble hadith merchants and shopkeepers are urged to avoid the bad habit of swearing many oaths, and it is declared a cause of the loss of blessing. The fact is that swearing oaths frequently in order to sell goods — even if the oath is not false but true — is a most unbecoming use of Allah's majestic name, while to swear a false oath even once is a grave sin.

On the occasion of the Hajj the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that whoever swears a false oath and thereby devours the wealth of a (believing) brother should make his abode in Hell. Let those of you who are present convey this to those who are absent. He ﷺ said this two or three times. (Reported by Ḥākim and Musnad Aḥmad)

With the utmost respect we humbly submit this to those people whose faith has grown weak, whose religiosity has slackened, who have sold the Hereafter for the paltry capital of this world, who fell upon the scraps of this world without any distinction between the lawful and the unlawful, who have no regard for the rights of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ nor any care for the wealth and property of the Muslims, who have forgotten that Day and have no concern for its punishment — the Day concerning which Allah says:
{On that Day you will all be brought forth; none of your deeds will remain hidden. Then the one who is given his record in his right hand will say: Come, my companions, read my record! I always had good hope that I would be given my reckoning. So he will be in a pleasant life, in a lofty Garden whose fruits hang low. (It will be said to them:) Eat and drink with relish, in return for the good deeds you sent ahead in days gone by. As for the one who is given his record in his left hand, he will say: Alas, would that I had never been given this record and had never known my reckoning! Would that death had made an end of me! My wealth has been of no use to me; my power has gone from me. (The angels will be commanded:) Seize him and put a chain on his neck, then cast him into Hell, then bind him in a chain seventy cubits long and cast him into the blaze — for he did not believe in Allah, the Almighty} (al-Ḥāqqah: 18–33).

We present this hadith and the aforementioned verses to these heedless people — verses at which the hearts of mountains would tremble and hearts of iron would melt like water. Why then should the hearts not soften of those who claim to be believers and who have complete faith in Allah's promises and His warnings? Would that these brothers of ours desist from their deeds and not swear false oaths for the sake of trifling scraps by which they will profit in this brief worldly life, only then to leave it and depart to the next world, while after them their heirs make merry — but they themselves will have to answer before Allah, and that will be the Day when neither wealth nor children avail, save the one who comes to Allah with a sound heart. On that Day the oppressor will be told: Stand, the sentence upon you shall be carried out; and the oppressed will be told: Wait, and receive your due.