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What is the meaning of "breach of an oath juridically but not religiously," and "breach of an oath religiously but not juridically"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a person swears an oath not to lead prayer as an imam, and then prays alone and others join him, he is not considered to have broken his oath in what is between him and Allah (religiously), because he did not intend to lead as an imam.

As for a judicial ruling (before a judge), if the oath pertains to the rights of others (such as an oath of divorce), the judge may rule that he has broken his oath because the judge rules based on outward appearances, unless it is proven to the judge that he did not intend to lead as an imam.

The Hanafis have mentioned a view that there is no breach of oath even judicially in this matter, because his intention not to be an imam prevents the breach, and his starting the prayer alone is evidence of that.

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

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