Al-Qasam — Rawzat

What Is a Qasam?

In classical Arabic literature and the Quran, an oath (qasam) has a specific structure:

The oath particle (harf al-qasam): most commonly wa (و) — meaning “by” when used in oaths, not “and”
The thing sworn by (al-muqsam bihi): what is invoked as witness/weight
The response to the oath (jawab al-qasam): what the oath affirms

The Quran frequently has all three. Example from Surah al-‘Asr (103):

Wa (By)
al-‘asr (time)
Inna al-insana la-fi khusr… (Indeed, humanity is in loss…)

The oath is a rhetorical intensifier — it draws attention to what follows by invoking something of recognized significance as witness to the truth being stated.

The Divine Swearing by the Creation

One of the most distinctive features of the Quran’s oaths: the divine swears by created things — the sun, the moon, the night, the dawn, the fig, the olive, Mount Sinai. This raises an immediate theological question: why does the divine swear by the creation?

The classical response: The divine swears by these things to:

Draw attention to their significance as signs (ayat)
Honor their status as divine creations
Assert that the creation itself is a witness to the truth being affirmed

A human being swears by something greater than themselves (by Allah, by their honor). The divine swears by creation in a different sense: not as something greater, but as an invitation for the human being to look at the sign that is being invoked and understand what it points to.

See also: Why The Quran, Tafakkur

The Major Qasam Passages

By the Celestial Bodies (Surah al-Shams 91:1-8)

“By the sun and its brightness, by the moon as it follows it, by the day when it displays it, by the night when it covers it, by the sky and He who constructed it, by the earth and He who spread it, by the soul (nafs) and He who proportioned it — He inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness.” (91:1-8)

Seven oaths leading to the single conclusion about the nafs — the soul’s structure. The response: “He who purifies it has succeeded, and he who instills it [with corruption] has failed.” (91:9-10)

The ta’wil: The seven celestial oaths point to seven prophetic cycles (daur); the soul is what those seven cycles are about — the soul’s purification through the prophetic succession. The purification of the nafs is possible only through the Imam’s guidance.

See also: Nafs The Soul, Daur Wa Kawr

By Time (Surah al-‘Asr 103:1-3)

“By time — indeed, humanity is in loss — except for those who believe and do righteous deeds and enjoin each other to truth and enjoin each other to patience.”

The oath is by al-‘asr (time, age, late afternoon). The response establishes the four conditions for escaping loss: iman + ‘amal salih + tawasi bil-haqq + tawasi bil-sabr.

Why time?: Time is the medium in which human choices are made — and in which they become irreversible. The oath by time is an invitation to recognize that time is the substrate of both loss and redemption.

By the Dawn (Surah al-Fajr 89:1-5)

“By the dawn, by the ten nights, by the even and the odd, and by the night when it passes — is there in that an oath [sufficient] for one of perception?”

The ten nights: Widely understood as the first ten nights of Dhu al-Hijja (the pilgrimage period) or the last ten nights of Ramadan (including Laylat al-Qadr).

The even and the odd: Classical exegetes offer many explanations — all of creation (which is either even or odd); the days of Mina; the difference between Witr prayer and other prayers. In the Ismaili ta’wil: the Asas (even — the Foundation, the Imam who completes the pair with the Natiq) and the Natiq (odd — the speaking prophet).

By the Fig and the Olive (Surah al-Tin 95:1-3)

“By the fig and the olive, by Mount Sinai, and by this secure city [Mecca].”

Three geographical oaths corresponding to three prophetic stations:

The fig: associated with ‘Isa (Jesus) and the Holy Land (Palestine/Jerusalem)
The olive: associated with the wider Mediterranean world of prophecy
Mount Sinai: Musa and the Mosaic revelation
The secure city (Mecca): Muhammad and the Islamic revelation

The response: “We have certainly created the human being in the best of forms.” (95:4) — the human being, made in the finest form, is then radda (brought back down) unless they believe and act.

By the Night and Day (Surah al-Layl 92:1-4)

“By the night when it covers, by the day when it appears, by He who created the male and female — indeed, your efforts are diverse.”

The oath by night and day is an oath by the cycle of concealment (sitr) and manifestation (zuhur) — the fundamental rhythm of the da’wa’s history.

The Ismaili Ta’wil of Quranic Oaths

In the Ismaili tradition, the objects sworn by are not merely natural phenomena but cosmic symbols:

The sun = the Imam (the source of spiritual light) The moon = the Dai (reflecting the Imam’s light, visible during the sitr) The stars = the believers who guide by the Imam’s light Night = the period of sitr (concealment) Dawn = the beginning of the Imam’s zuhur (manifestation) The nafs = the human soul on its journey toward or away from the Imam

When the Quran swears by these things, it is inviting the reader to see the signs — to perform tafakkur on what these symbols point to, and ultimately to recognize the divine’s plan running through the cosmic, prophetic, and personal orders simultaneously.

Al-Qasam — The Oaths of the Quran and Their Ta'wil