An oath from the point of view of Islam. How Spiritual Oaths and Vows Are Ruining Your Life Superstitions Associated with Oaths

In some verbal collisions, combinations of words, and in individual words, sometimes, something strange and even mystical is found. On the one hand, in the 21st century we have ceased to trust the word. Perhaps this was facilitated by the yellow press and the tales that overwhelmed the Internet, but the word means little these days. Some statements of Zhirinovsky, who today publicly says one thing, and tomorrow the exact opposite, are worth a lot.

Urca's phrase from the famous movie: "What can not be said in a joke conversation" has become volatile and is perceived as an excuse for any lies and nonsense. But, on the other hand, there are special words. For example, the amazing and strange word "I swear." The meaning and amplitude of this word is enormous. From everyday “I swear by my mother” to quite official “I swear to observe the Constitution when exercising the powers of the President ...” or, for example, the medical Hippocratic oath. Why? What is so special about this word?

Oath in everyday life

Indeed, why the same-root words "oath", "I swear", "I curse" even in the most ordinary, everyday life are filled with significant, even solemn content. We swear by the most precious: "parents", "children's lives", "all saints", "honor", etc. The word “oath”, as well as “faith”, “God”, “mother”, “father” are already at the genetic level connected in our minds with concepts so serious and significant that it is impossible to just, as they say, throw them to the wind. In Soviet, atheistic times, this phenomenon was understood and already in childhood we took an oath “to be faithful to the cause of Lenin and the Communist Party”, joining the pioneers, and an oath of allegiance to the Motherland, taking a military oath.

The history of the oath is calculated for thousands of years. Even among the ancients, this word played an important role. Let us recall at least the oath of the Horatian brothers to take revenge on their enemies, or to die, the oath of Oedipus, who swore to the people to find the murderer of King Laius, or the famous Hannibal oath to be an enemy of Rome to death. The oath ritual has incredibly passed through the centuries and has survived to this day. Moreover, not only in religion, but also in ordinary secular life. From the wedding oath of love between the bride and groom, the magical blood oath, the oath at knighthood, to the most modern, annual oath of allegiance to the Russian fleet by first-year students of the Moscow Academy of Water Transport. But, of course, an oath in religion is of particular importance.

Oath in Judaism

In the cult and ethical norms of Judaism, the oath served and still serves as a solemn fastening of the obligations of both individuals and society as a whole. In the Torah (Old Testament), an oath is associated with calling God to witness and willingly accept punishment from the Almighty in case of its violation. This created the impression that God was holding the promise. The court even recognized the oath as one of the forms of evidence and could release the defendant from the claim only on the basis of the oath. In religious circles, a false oath or its violation is considered one of the most serious mortal sins: "Yahweh will not spare the one who pronounces Him in vain ...".

In modern times, it became possible to free oneself from the curse, But this required the help of a rabbi or three members of the community. At the same time, the one who took the oath had to explain why he refuses the oath. Later, starting from the 17th century, the swearing of all participants in the trial became mandatory. At the same time, frightening and rather humiliating curses were pronounced for the Jews in case of violation of the oath: “If I lied, let the earth open and swallow me alive,” etc. Since the middle of the 19th century, in many European countries, these curses and rituals, which were humiliating for Jews, have been canceled. Only the words remained: "By the name of the God of Israel."

When taking an oath, religious Jews raise their right hand. Sometimes it was enough to raise your hand, which meant "I swear." They swore by “life” (it was indicated whose), “heaven”, “earth”, “Temple”, “Jerusalem”. The most indestructible and sacred was considered, and even today it is considered, an oath in the name of God.

Oath in Christianity

For Christians, the oath loses its meaning. In the Gospel of Matthew we read the words of Jesus Christ from the Sermon on the Mount: “But I say: do not swear at all. Neither heaven, because it is the throne of God, nor the earth, because it is His footstool, nor Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. There will be a word for you: "yes, yes" or "no, no." At the same time, conscience, which, according to Christians, is the voice of God inside a person, becomes a witness of a person’s loyalty to his word. In the New Testament, the words of the Apostle Paul are quoted: “I speak the truth in Christ, as my conscience testifies to me ...”.

But there are also some contradictions. According to some Christian theologians and religious philosophers, this is not about the complete abolition of the oath, but only about the prohibition to swear by those specific concepts that Christ spoke about. Moreover, further in the New Testament we read: "The angel raised his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever." The oath-giving was followed by Christians and is still followed by both priests and cathedrals of different years. In many Christian countries, those who testify in court or take the oath of office as head of state swear by placing their hand on the Bible.

Oath in Islam

Muslims can swear, but only in the name of Allah. Oaths "by the life of the mother", "by one's own life", "by the life of children" and others of this kind are undesirable. There are three types of oaths among Muslims: empty, false and valid. An empty oath used in conversation is nothing more than a figure of speech and, according to Islamic theologians, it is best to avoid it. A false oath, especially a deliberately false one, is, as in other religions, one of the greatest sins. A valid oath is usually accompanied by the words "I swear by Allah" or "I swear by the One who disposes of human souls." Failure to fulfill such an oath requires not only repentance, but also atonement. And redemption is of two types. Either feed 10 beggars (you can also feed one beggar for 10 days), or a three-day fast. But there is one caveat. If the one who took the oath ended it with the words “... if Allah wills,” then failure to fulfill it does not matter.

Oath in Buddhism

Among the followers of the Buddha (Buddhism, by the way, is not so much a religion as a philosophy), an oath or vow is also of great importance. Of particular interest are two oaths. Bodhisattva Oath - Buddhists attained supreme enlightenment. They vow to take on the burden of human suffering, and the oath of those who embark on the path of the Buddha is to free their own consciousness from evil, envy, aggression and other bad qualities.

Among the Buddhist oaths there are those that you will not find in other religions. I especially remember the oath to strive with boundless peace and the oath to become an angel after death. - guardian for their children and grandchildren. There is also an oath never to take any oath. When this oath is taken, all other oaths are considered invalid.

Afterword

I believe in God. I believe in a higher mind. I believe in the sacred semantic content of some words and, especially, the word "oath". It is enough to recall the single-root word "curse" to be convinced of this. The family curse of the Kennedy clan, in which, for the sins of the robber Patrick Kennedy, who lived in the 19th century, they died and are still dying to this day as a result of murders, suicides and various air and car accidents members of this famous family, cannot be a coincidence.

The word "oath", like other words of the same root with it, must be pronounced carefully, not forgetting the possible consequences. Human thought, expressed in a word, is not an empty shaking of the air. Isn't this what folk wisdom says: "Silence is golden?"

Lev Madorsky

An oath is an immutable vow, a promise, an assurance of something. A person who vows to do something is obligated to perform that action. The word "I swear" strengthens the belief that the one who said this is telling the truth, is not disingenuous and is confident in his words. Breaking an oath is considered a serious crime. They usually swear by what is most precious: relatives, expensive property, health. However, is it possible to do this? Why is it impossible to swear by children or parents categorically?

Origin of the word

Turning to Dahl's dictionary, you can find out that the word "oath" comes from "curse" which meant "scold" or "curse". Following the etymological development of the root of this word, it can be noted that such a word as, for example, "curse" also came from it.

Oath in mythology

In the mythology of the ancient Greeks, the oath was personified by the Styx. It was believed that the most terrible oath was the waters of the Styx.

If any of the Olympic Gods violated such an oath, severe punishment awaited him: he was expelled from Mount Olympus for nine years and had to lie without signs of life for a whole year. Often Zeus was called to witness the oath.

In the Muslim religion, there are traditionally several types of oaths: involuntary, related to events in the past, and about what will happen in the future.

If unintentional oaths do not involve atonement, since they were made unconsciously, then the situation is different with the other two. If a person who has taken such an oath breaks it, according to the order of Allah, he must either feed or clothe ten beggars. If he does not have the material opportunity to do this, then for each broken oath, he is obliged to observe a three-day fast.

Attitude to the oath in Christianity

If we turn to the Old Testament, then there you can see the instruction to swear by the name of God:

Fear the Lord your God, and serve Him alone, and cling to Him and swear by His name.

This custom was fixed by the Law of Moses. There are many examples of various oaths in the Old Testament. If we turn to the text of the New Testament, we can see how much the attitude towards oaths has changed. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus cancels the rite of swearing in the name of God.

From that moment on, conscience became the main witness of human deeds, and conscience is the voice of God in a person. Jesus Christ, imposing a ban on oaths, utters the following words:

You also heard what was said of the ancients: do not break your oath, but fulfill your oaths before the Lord. But I say to you: do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor the earth, for it is His footstool; nor Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King; do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. But let your word be: yes, yes; no no; and what is more than this is from the evil one.

So why can't you swear in Orthodoxy? Jesus says that during the oath a person speaks of something valuable: heaven, the Motherland, his own life. However, he is not the owner of any of this, he does not own any of this. God owns and controls everything. Consequently, he does not have the right to dispose of what a person does not own. That's why you can't swear by God, life, or anything else.

Superstitions related to oaths

As noted above, the words "oath" and "curse" have the same root. Some people believe that by taking an oath, a person can cause great harm to himself and his loved ones. Psychics believe that at the moment when the oath was pronounced, the course of events in the karmic body of a person goes astray. An oath imposes a ban on those things that a person has sworn, blocks them. The sworn can block financial flows, good luck, well-being, disrupt the reproductive system. This explains why one cannot swear by health or money.

If a person swears by other people, for example, parents or a child, misfortunes and illnesses fall on those who swore. And watching their suffering, the one who swore will also suffer. That's why you can't swear by mom or kids. By the way, the oath of a child is one of the strongest and one of the most terrible.

It is believed that even if a person swore in an emotional outburst, otherworldly forces will still take this oath into account. If, for example, a person vowed never to do something, he will find himself in such life circumstances in which it will be impossible to follow this oath, and sooner or later he will still break it. For example, an unfaithful spouse, having cheated on his wife, swore on his own health never to do such a thing again. In the future, he will definitely face the temptation at work or at a party. Having broken the oath, and changing again, he will lose both his health (which he swore) and his family.

Oaths given to the dead

Such oaths have special power. Most often, this is a promise to the deceased spouse never to have a relationship with anyone else. They take an oath in different ways: they write letters to the dead, they say it orally, they put their photo in the grave. The motivation of a person who took an oath is understandable: he experiences the pain of loss and excludes even the thought of happiness with another. However, if over time the relationship does begin, the deceased spouse will appear to the person. People who are faced with such a situation turn to psychics, magicians, churches and psychologists just to get rid of such visions.

When You Can Swear

It is permissible to do this in one situation: psychics believe that an oath is not a crime if a person reinforces her sincere words. For example, if he is accused of theft, but he did not actually do this and reinforced the words of his innocence with an oath. In this situation, it will not cause a negative reaction from otherworldly forces.

The most famous oaths

These oaths are of course special. For those for whom they exist (doctors, military, athletes), it is not only possible, but also necessary to give them. And it is especially necessary to fulfill them.

People have always attached sacred meaning to words. The tradition of swearing originated in very ancient times. A person, as it were, concluded an agreement with higher powers, realizing that if his words turn out to be untrue, if he does not keep this promise, then heaven will punish him. I wonder what kind of oaths were taken in Rus'?

What oaths did the Slavs take?

In pagan times, the Slavs, giving false vows, invoked the wrath of the gods on their heads. Actually, the word “oath” itself has the same root as “curse”, “curse”. There is no doubt that there is a magic ritual in this.

Oaths were an official part of the charters (charters) - contractual letters, judging, for example, by the texts of Russian-Byzantine treaties of the 10th century, the translations of which were included in The Tale of Bygone Years. So, in the text of the treaty of 911, we read that peace between states is sealed with a “swear (firm)”, which no one should “transgress”. And in the agreement between the Russian prince Svyatoslav and the Greeks for 971, one can find the following words: “Yes, we have an oath from God ... and let us be gold like gold (that is, we will turn into despicable metal - Auth.), And we will be cut with our weapons ".

As a sign of the strength of the oath in Rus', they kissed the blade of the sword or put it to the forehead, since the sacred meaning was attributed to the weapon. Here are excerpts from the annals: "... According to Russian law, they swore by their weapons both Perun and Veles"; “... And unbaptized Rus' lays down its shields and its swords naked (naked - Auth.), hoop your hoops and other weapons and swear in everything”; “... In the morning Igor called servants, and came to the hill where Perun stood, laid down his weapons and shields and gold, and took an oath to Igor and his people ...” About those who violated the oath, it was said: “Let them be sworn from God and from Perun and will perish from their own swords.

How did the warriors swear?

For Russian soldiers, the oath was mandatory. Before the battle, they swore to fight for Holy Rus', to be her faithful sons. Thus was born the ritual of taking the military oath. It is known that the soldiers of Prince Alexander Nevsky took the oath on the eve of the battle on Lake Peipsi. Novgorod warriors took an oath in the Hagia Sophia, uttering the following words: “Let's stand up for our father and brother, for our family; we will die for Saint Sophia.

Oaths in land disputes

A special oath was taken when resolving land disputes. One of the debaters put a piece of earth with turf from the disputed field on his head, and walked in the direction where, in his opinion, the border with the neighboring plot should have passed. At the same time, he would say: “May the earth cover me forever if I lie!” This rite was associated with the Slavic cult of Mother Earth.

With the advent of Christianity in such situations, they began to swear on the icon of the Virgin. Even in official land surveying documents, the following phrase appeared: “Allot the land along the Most Pure”.

How did the people swear?

The following oaths were common among the Russian people: “Burst my eyes if I tell a lie!”, “May I fall through the ground if I’m lying!”, “Don’t leave this place!”, “God kill me!”, “Smash me thunder!” and so on. God was often mentioned in oaths, so the word “swear” has a synonym - to swear. As proof of the veracity of the oath, they often kissed the cross, the Bible, and icons.

In our time, you can sometimes hear how unchurched people swear by their lives and health, and even by the lives and health of their loved ones, without thinking that these are by no means empty words thrown to the wind. We should not forget how our ancestors treated such things.

Question: How to understand? In one place: swear by the name of the Lord. In another: do not swear at all.

The word "oath" is one of the most powerful, because it implies absolute and unconditional fidelity to this word. When we read the Bible, we find that sworn promises were quite common. This is not surprising, because in those days there were no notaries or lawyers, people in many ways had to take each other's word for it. How to convince someone that you will keep your promise? Swear. And how to convince him so that he does not have even a shadow of a doubt? Swear on the most precious thing you have, right? “I swear on my children”, “I swear on my health and well-being” - not everyone will easily take such an oath, especially if they intend to break it.

However, what is the most precious thing for any believer, if not the name of his GOD? The peoples who lived around the Israelites swore by the names of their gods. And this was considered the most terrible oath. When the Almighty led the children of Jacob out of Egyptian slavery, He began to reorient their consciousness from the names of foreign gods to His name, helping them to understand that only He is the All-Powerful and True God. And He explained this truth to them in a language that they could well understand at that time. Here are 2 main passages on the subject:

Deuteronomy 6:13 Fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him alone, and swear by His name. for the Lord your God who is in your midst is a jealous God; lest the wrath of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 10:20 Fear the Lord your God [and] serve Him [alone], and cleave to Him and swear by His name: He is your praise and He is your God, who did with you those great and terrible [deeds], which your eyes have seen; seventy souls your fathers came into Egypt, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Reread them again, paying attention to the fact that the words about “swear by your name” are among other important commands:

fear God
- Serve God
- cling to God
- Swear by his name

From the first reading it may seem that God here teaches people to swear by His name, but in fact He teaches them quite differently. The general theme of these commands is this: put Me first and whatever you do, do it knowing that I am your Lord and no one else. Detach yourself from other people's names and cling to My name. If you really need to swear something to someone, then do not use the names of other gods, I allow you to use My name. It's "permission"! To consolidate this knowledge, this commandment, the Lord will later say through the mouth of Joshua:

Do not communicate with these (*heathen) peoples that are left between you, do not remember the name of their gods, do not swear by [them] and do not serve them and do not worship them ... (Joshua 23:7 and see Jer5: 7)

See the same wording? "don't worship, don't serve, don't swear" – i.e. do not consider them the main ones in your life, do not consider them as gods at all.

Heb.6:16 People swear by the highest, and an oath of proof ends their every dispute.

The Almighty taught His people that He is the "highest", and there is no other like Him. Therefore, if they want to swear by something "higher", then there is nothing higher than His name.

God's people used His name to take oaths, and the Lord did not mind. For example, Abraham demanded such an oath from his servant: “And swear to me by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live ...” (Gen.24:3) Or Saul took a similar oath from David: "Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not uproot my offspring after me, and you will not destroy my name in my father's house" (1 Sam. 24:22). Even the pagan Rahab, who understood how important God is for the Israelites, took the same oath from the spies: “swear to me by the Lord that, as I did you mercy, so you will do mercy to my father’s house, and give me a sure sign ...” ( Joshua 2:12)

The Lord did not object to oaths given at the mention of His name, only as long as His people did not begin to swear in lies, i.e. not only did they not fulfill the oath, but from the very beginning they knew that they would not fulfill it.

The Almighty has always taught His people that once they have taken an oath, they must keep it. The breaking of an oath is on a par with such sins as fornication, homosexuality, bestiality, murder (1 Tim 1:10), and the punishment for it is severe:

Zech.5:3 He said to me, This is a curse that comes on the face of the whole earth; for everyone who steals will be destroyed, as it is written on one side, and everyone who swears falsely will be destroyed, as it is written on the other side. I brought him, says the Lord of hosts, and he will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by my name, and will remain in his house, and will destroy him, and his trees, and his stones.

Therefore, the law prescribes:

Do not swear a lie by my name, and do not dishonor the name of your God. I am the Lord. (Lev.19:12)

if anyone makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath, putting a pledge on his soul, then he should not break his word, but should fulfill everything that came out of his mouth. (Num.30:3)

Pay special attention to the fact that there is no wording here like “if anyone swears by the name of the Lord”, but simply says “if anyone swears”, because it does not matter to God whether His name was used, it is important to Him that the oath was spoken at all , which means that the person who bears His name must fulfill it.

Is it easy to fulfill an oath? In order for a person to do this, it is necessary to have two main qualities: 1) loyalty to one's own word and 2) the ability to control the situation. For example, if I, knowing how to drive a car, swear to someone that I will never drive a car in my life, I can demonstrate loyalty, but can I control the situation? After all, if circumstances develop in such a way that only I can be the person who will deliver the dying child to the hospital in some kind of car, then I will find myself in an unpleasant situation: to break my oath and automatically break the concept of fidelity, or to let the child die. There are several stories in the Bible about how terrible things happened because of a thoughtless oath, read, for example, one of them in Mark 6:22-27.

When Jesus began His ministry, there was much debate among the teachers of God's people about how, by what, and when to swear, but there was no clear understanding that swearing is the most serious obligation that a person imposes on himself, and that God never commanded him to swear name, but simply allowed it to be done if necessary. Therefore, Jesus, correcting what was distorted and obscured, clarified the meaning of the command given in the Torah about oaths:

You also heard what was said of the ancients: do not break your oath, but fulfill your oaths before the Lord.--- and this is correct, and so it should be. Jesus does not cancel the commandment here, but He graciously helps people to see that it would be better for them not to take any oaths at all --- And I say to you: do not swear at all: not by heaven, because it is the throne of God; nor the earth, for it is His footstool; nor Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King; do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. --Do you see the reason? Because you can't know what will happen to you tomorrow! Don't be presumptuous when you make serious commitments! After all, it is said that if you do not fulfill, then you will fall under condemnation (James 5:12).

Oaths, vows, vows, promises - the topic of the next thematic dive.

Probably, you have made promises more than once or someone has made them to you. Perhaps these were not just promises, but oaths, vows or vows. For example, oaths of love and fidelity are often found. A vivid example is oaths and promises given during marriage, wedding. Many more oaths, promises were made during the Soviet Union, where there were many different slogans at school (Octobers, Pioneers), collective farms, public service, and so on. “We don’t need bread - let’s work, we don’t need the sun - the party shines for us”, “Shine always, shine everywhere, shine - and no nails.”

Perhaps you experienced difficulties in fulfilling this promise or felt pressure from an oath once given that had lost its relevance, BUT YOU PROMISED and continued to follow the promise.

Or, on the contrary, once this promise helped and supported you or another person to whom you swore an oath. But changes have taken place in life and the oath is no longer needed and even, perhaps, interferes.

I will also give various examples from the practice of consultations about once given oaths and their manifestation in different spheres of life. The reason for unsuccessful romantic relationships and loneliness often lies in previously given oaths - “I swear I’d rather be alone than it’s not clear with whom”, “I will never marry”, “I will never love anyone again”, vows given in monastic lives (there are a lot - and in fidelity to God, in the absence of a sexual life, the rejection of material goods, luxury, etc.). The oath “I will never be a burden to another person” creates difficulties in asking for help. In connection with a difficult situation where money appears, very often various promises are made to oneself or others, which then drag on from life to life - “I don’t need money, return my child to me”, “I will never pick up money again.” When it is difficult to get out of an obsolete relationship with a certain person, letting go is an example of this promise “I will never leave you” or “I will always be there”, “I will only be with you”.

The urge to help everyone, to “do good”, when they don’t ask, can cause an oath “I will never refuse to help anyone”, “I will definitely help” to the detriment of myself.

It happens that it is not clear how an oath / promise / vow / vow sounds about what it is about when it was taken, a frequently repeated situation in life or behavior that you cannot change and over and over again do the same thing over and over again can speak about them same.

So what is an oath? This is a certain angle, a certain direction in which a person is going to stay. And in life, situations develop in accordance with a certain promise given to oneself or to someone, a vow, an oath, a vow. And they can touch absolutely any area - work, work, money, relationships with the opposite sex, relatives, friends, colleagues, manifestations of oneself, etc. They can sound like in the current life and also stretch from the past. It can last the same way through several lives. Most often, oaths, vows, vows are given on emotions, "in the hearts" and thus a karmic plot is created, which passes to the next incarnations.

Perhaps not all oaths interfere, not all of them need to be canceled. Oaths, vows, vows, promises are not only with a minus sign, but also with a plus sign. For example, a promise given to oneself - "Despite any difficulties, overcoming any obstacles, I will definitely get results." If you think that this helps you, then it is not necessary to cancel such oaths.

Just like any other situation, the situation with an oath can be changed, rethought, canceled. All this is in your power.

Oaths are quite common and prevent you from getting what you need from life, they drain energy, devastate you, you have to give up what you really need. They swore...

• see / hear how your oath, vow, vow, promise sounds
• how this oath affected the current life and other lives
• when it manifested and "activated" for the first time in the current life
• see life, where you first gave it and in what circumstances
• look at it through the eyes of your Wise Soul, re-realize the situation where it was given
• do whatever you want with the oath - reformulate, cancel, release, or something else
• untie karmic knots, free from restraining oaths, vows, vows, promises
• and of course, change the events of your current life.

I also present to your attention a video review of regressive sessions.

They worked with Vimana according to an old vow made many lifetimes ago. It was this vow that caused endless reincarnations. Very unusual! On the video from 6:38 min.: “... This session helped me resolve a very old, long, old, long-standing vow that I made, making my free choice in the same way ... Having made a free choice to incarnate again, go through a whole chain of these incarnations , becoming a guardian angel, becoming just someone who is invisibly nearby ... "

I invite you to be released from oaths, vows, vows and promises on a thematic immersion on the topic “Oaths, vows, vows, promises”.

Conditions of passage - 2-3 hours of free time, good Internet connection. The cost is shareware (details on page c).

You have another great opportunity to get a lot of useful and interesting information about yourself that will help you in the future on your way. Use it to change your life now!

Those who are interested in going through this thematic dive on a special offer - let us know about your desire in .

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