Oaths in the Qur'an

Allah swears by many things in the Qur'an (the sun, the moon, the pen, etc.), which makes these things important. Do you ever wonder why Allah swears by these things? What do they have to do with the verses following it? Let's take a look at the purposes of oaths:

Purposes of Oaths (in any language):

1. Expression of anger (I swear you better stop!)

2. Validation for testimony (I swear to tell the truth)

3. To remove skepticism (I swear there was traffic)

Purposes of Oaths in Classical Arabic:

4. To draw the attention of an audience.

• The arabs usually swear by something important to the listener (I swear by your horse!)

The Purpose of Oaths in the Qur'an:

5. The object of an oath is evidence or testimony for the subject of the oath.

• For example, Suratul 'Asr begins

 By time         والعصر   

  For sure, man is in loss.    ان الانسان لفي خسر

The object of the oath is time.

The subject of the oath is the loss of humans. 

How do you understand the placement of the oath? You look at the subject of the oath. Time has to do with why humans are in loss, and it serves as evidence as to why humans are in loss (except for those believe, and do good deeds, and who push each other to the truth and patience to do good).

Let us look at another example:

Surah At-Teen (The Fig)


1. By the Fig and the Olive
2. And the Mount of Sinai
3. And this City of security

What is Allah talking about? Why did Allah choose to swear by these things? We have to look at The subject of the oath:

4. We have indeed created man in the best form.

In today's society, if you tell somebody that humans have been created in the best of forms, they will probably disagree with you and point to all of the evil surrounding you: wars, rape, domestic violence, robberies, murders, political corruption, etc.

But Allah is swearing by these objects that indeed, man has been created in the best form. What do the objects have to do with the oath? The fig is associated with Prophet Nuh, because the area where his ship landed was known for its figs. The olive is associated with Prophet Isa because Jerusalem was known for the olive. In Arabic you point to a region by the produce it is known for. And Mount Sinai is associated with Prophet Musa. The city of security is referring to Makkah, which is associated with both Prophet Ibrahim and Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon them all).

These five Prophets are called Uloo Al-Azam- they are the greatest Prophets who are known to have been tested greatly and have strong will and perseverance. The object of Allah's oaths are referring to them, and they are attesting to the oath that man has been created in the best of forms. What better example can Allah give to show us how much potential humans have, than the five greatest Prophets to walk the earth?

But for those who do not recognize it, and who do not believe in the message,

5. Then we have reduced him to the lowest of the low.


6. Except those who believe and do good deeds, they will have a never ending reward.