Meaning: their oaths · Also translated as: your oaths, your right hands, oaths, in your oaths
Forms in the Quran
أَيْمَٰنِكُمْ×15
أَيْمَٰنِهِمْ×15
ٱلْيَمِينِ×12
بِيَمِينِهِۦ×4
أَيْمَٰنٌۢ×3
يَمِينِكَ×3
ٱلْأَيْمَٰنَ×2
بِيَمِينِكَ×2
Its root in the classical dictionaries
اليمين: أصله الجارحة، واستعماله في وصف الله تعالى في قوله: والسماوات مطويات بيمينه
قوله تعالى: ﴿إنكم كنتم تأتوننا عن اليمين﴾ [الصافات: 28] أي عن القوة والقهر، أي غلبتمونا وقهرتمونا حتى أطعناكم، وركبوا معاصيهم على قادتهم. قال ابن عرفة: أي تمنعوننا من طاعة الله، أي تأتوتنا من قبل الحق فتلبسوه علينا. والعرب تنسب الفعل المحمود إلى اليمين والمذموم إلى الشمال. قال الشماخ: [من الوافر]
And take not your oaths,
To practise deception between
yourselves,
With the result that someone's foot
May slip after it was
Firmly planted, and ye may
Have to taste the evil
(consequences)
Of having hindered (men)
From the Path of God,
And a mighty Wrath
Descend on you.
One day We shall call
Together all human beings
With their (respective) Imāms:
Those who are given their record
In their right hand
Will read it (with pleasure),
And they will not be
Dealt with unjustly
In the least.
Thou wouldst have seen
The sun, when it rose,
Declining to the right
From their Cave, and when
It set, turning away
From them to the left,
While they lay in the open
Space in the midst
Of the Cave. Such are
Among the Signs of God:
He whom God guides
Is rightly guided; but he
Whom God leaves to stray,—
For him wilt thou find
No protector to lead him
To the Right Way.
Thou wouldst have deemed them
Awake, whilst they were asleep,
And We turned them
On their right and on
Their left sides: their dog
Stretching forth his two fore-legs
On the threshold: if thou
Hadst come up on to them,
Thou wouldst have certainly
Turned back from them in flight,
And wouldst certainly have been
Filled with terror of them.
"Throw that which is
In thy right hand:
Quickly will it swallow up
That which they have faked
What they have faked
Is but a magician's trick:
And the magician thrives not,
(No matter) where he goes."
Except with those joined
To them in the marriage bond,
Or (the captives) whom
Their right hands possess,—
For (in their case) they are
Free from blame,
And say to the believing women
That they should lower
Their gaze and guard
Their modesty; that they
Should not display their
Beauty and ornaments except
What (must ordinarily) appear
Thereof; that they should
Draw their veils over
Their bosoms and not display
Their beauty except
To their husbands, their fathers,
Their husbands’ fathers, their sons,
Their husbands’ sons,
Their brothers or their brothers’ sons,
Or their sisters’ sons,
Or their women, or the slaves
Whom their right hands
Possess, or male servants
Free of physical needs,
Or small children who
Have no sense of the shame
Of sex; and that they
Should not strike their feet
In order to draw attention
To their hidden ornaments.
And O ye Believers!
Turn ye all together
Towards God, that ye
May attain Bliss.
Let those who find not
The wherewithal for marriage
Keep themselves chaste, until
God gives them means
Out of His grace.
And if any of your slaves
Ask for a deed in writing
(To enable them to earn
Their freedom for a certain sum),
Give them such a deed
If ye know any good
In them; yea, give them
Something yourselves
Out of the means which
God has given to you.
But force not your maids
To prostitution when they desire
Chastity, in order that ye
May make a gain
In the goods of this life.
But if anyone compels them,
Yet, after such compulsion,
Is God Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful (to them).
They swear their strongest oaths
By God that, if only thou
Wouldst command them, they
Would leave (their homes).
Say: "Swear ye not;
Obedience is (more) reasonable;
Verily, God is well acquainted
With all that ye do."
O ye who believe!
Let those whom your right hands
Possess, and the (children) among you
Who have not come of age
Ask your permission (before
They come to your presence),
On three occasions: before
Morning prayer; the while
Ye doff your clothes
For the noonday heat;
And after the late-night prayer:
These are your three times
Of undress: outside those times
It is not wrong for you
Or for them to move about
Attending to each other:
Thus does God make clear
The Signs to you: for God
Is full of knowledge and wisdom.
And thou wast not (able)
To recite a Book before
This (Book came), nor art thou
(Able) to transcribe it
With thy right hand:
In that case, indeed, would
The talkers of vanities
Have doubted.
He does propound
To you a similitude
From your own (experience):
Do ye have partners
Among those whom your right hands
Possess, to share as equals
In the wealth We have
Bestowed on you? Do ye
Fear them as ye fear
Each other? Thus do We
Explain the Signs in detail
To a people that understand.
O Prophet! We have
Made lawful to thee
Thy wives to whom thou
Hast paid their dowers;
And those whom thy
Right hand possesses out of
The prisoners of war whom
God has assigned to thee;
And daughters of thy paternal
Uncles and aunts, and daughters
Of thy maternal uncles
And aunts, who migrated
(From Mecca) with thee;
And any believing woman
Who dedicates her soul
To the Prophet if the Prophet
Wishes to wed her;—this
Only for thee, and not
For the Believers (at large);
We know what We have
Appointed for them as to
Their wives and the captives
Whom their right hands
Possess;—in order that
There should be no difficulty
For thee. And God is
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
It is not lawful for thee
(To marry more) women
After this, nor to change
Them for (other) wives,
Even though their beauty
Attract thee, except any
Thy right hand should
Possess (as handmaidens):
And God doth watch
Over all things.
There is no blame
(On these ladies if they
Appear) before their fathers
Or their sons, their brothers,
Or their brothers’ sons,
Or their sisters’ sons,
Or their women,
Or the (slaves) whom
Their right hands possess.
And, (ladies), fear God;
For God is Witness
To all things.
There was, for Sabā,
Aforetime, a Sign in their
Home-land—two Gardens
To the right and to the left.
"Eat of the Sustenance (provided)
By your Lord, and be grateful
To Him: a territory fair and happy,
And a Lord Oft-Forgiving!
They swore their strongest oaths
By God that if a warner
Came to them, they would
Follow his guidance better
Than any (other) of the Peoples:
But when a warner came
To them, it has only
Increased their flight
(From righteousness),—