حلف

Core meaning

To take an oath: to pledge one's word with God as guarantor, most often to cover oneself.

Uses

1. حَلَفَ, يَحْلِفُ بِٱللَّهِ → "to take oaths" : the act of swearing before people or before God, to justify oneself or to be believed.

   • «وَيَحْلِفُونَ بِٱللَّهِ إِنَّهُمْ لَمِنكُمْ» — "They take oaths by God that they are surely of you" (9:56)
   • «ذَٰلِكَ كَفَّٰرَةُ أَيْمَٰنِكُمْ إِذَا حَلَفْتُمْ» — "That is the expiation of your oaths, when you take oaths" (5:89)

2. حَلَّاف → "oath-monger" : the one whom the habit of taking oaths defines.

   • «وَلَا تُطِعْ كُلَّ حَلَّافٍۢ مَّهِينٍ» — "And do not defer to every contemptible oath-monger" (68:10)
   • Written exception: "to take an oath": legal phrase; "oath" is the noun of يمن, "to swear" the verb of قسم.

Evidence from the text

Apart from 5:89, where the believers' oath receives its expiation, the verb accompanies a speech that covers itself: they take oaths "to satisfy you" (9:62), "so that you may turn away from them" (9:95), "that they said nothing" (9:74), and "upon falsehood knowingly" (58:14).

The gesture continues even before God: "they will take oaths to Him as they take oaths to you" (58:18). In 68:10 the habit becomes a noun, at the head of a list of vices.

Distinctions

• قسم — to swear: the oath by which God or people affirm, whereas حلف names the oath taken to be believed
• يمن — the oath: the sworn word itself, which can be expiated (5:89)