Oaths Regarding what is Time-Bound and what is not, in the Book "Minah al-Ghaffar" by al-Tamartashi

Abstract

This study, “Oaths Regarding what is Time-Bound and what is not, in the Book "Minah al-Ghaffar" by al-Tamartashi,” aims to clarify the meaning of time-bound and non-time-bound oaths and the rules governing their respective rulings, due to the scientific importance of this research in understanding the foundation of oath. It examines the jurisprudential structure of oaths and clarifies the distinction between two categories: oaths that accept temporal delimitation and those that do not. The field of jurisprudential distinctions is among the most significant Islamic legal sciences, as it cultivates juristic aptitude in students of law.

The researchers applied two methodologies:

1. The inductive method, by gathering subsidiary issues related to time-bound and non-time-bound oaths from their primary sources in major legal works, in accordance with al-Tamurtāshī’s treatment in Minḥ al-Ghaffār.
2. The analytical method, by deriving these issues from the general maxims under which they fall, enabling students to perform sound legal derivation based on these principles.

The study reached several conclusions, including:

First: the foundation of oaths is affirming the truth intended by the swearer. If the context is legal, the operative meaning is the legal truth; if customary, the customary truth; and if unrestricted, the linguistic truth.

Second: when the speaker holds an intention that the wording can reasonably bear, his intention is given legal effect.