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Does an oath become binding by merely moving the tongue and lips without uttering a sound, especially when afflicted with obsessive-compulsive disorder?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Merely moving the tongue and lips with the letters is not sufficient for uttering an oath according to the majority of scholars. Rather, the person must hear themselves, provided they have normal hearing and there is no impediment. This is the view of the majority, in contrast to some Malikis and Al-Karkhi from the Hanafis, who do not stipulate hearing. The aforementioned oath, if uttered, is not binding according to the majority. And the oath of the one afflicted by waswasah (obsessive whispering) is not binding even if they utter it, provided it was under the influence of waswasah, because they are considered to be in a state akin to coercion.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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