Allah not speaking nor looking at those who bear his false oath

Question : I do not understand why Allah would give such a big punishment for such a small sin of taking a false oath in his name?

The Prophet said, “(There are) three (types of persons to whom) Allah will neither speak to them on the Day of Resurrections, nor look at them (They are):–(1) a man who takes a false oath that he has been offered for a commodity a price greater than what he has actually been offered; (2) and a man who takes a false oath after the ‘Asr (prayer) in order to grab the property of a Muslim through it;……

[Ref: Saheeh Bukhari]

Answer :

First of all, this is not a small sin. Absolutely not !. The very fact that this is an authentic hadeeth coming from the Prophet sallalahu `alayhi wa sallam informing about our Lord should suffice for a Muslim (one who submits) to submit his IQ, Intellect and will to that of Allah’s. Questioning is healthy but if done for the wrong reasons or on the wrong aspects could lead to grave deviance and eternal doom.  One should avoid self-interpreting or self deducing and concluding about the Islamic texts.

Those who self-conclude on medical surgery based on their personal limited intellect or likes/dislikes are termed as retarded by the academic fibre of mankind. Similar is the science of Islam.

However, the scholars have explained more than one reason why taking a false oath of Allah and especially in regards to trade / business is a problem. But i will give a different answer not to explain the technicalities of the scholarly sharh but only answer in a way that would at the very least make you realize who are we dealing with here when we take his oath

First we will directly jump to Allah’s throne bearers . Multiple narrations with many asaneed have been reported that summarizes the following :

The prophet sallalahu `alayhi wa sallam was reported to have said:

‘Do you know what is above you (i.e. the sky)?’ They (Sahaaba) said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Indeed it is a preserved canopy of the firmament whose surge is restrained.’ Then he said: ‘Do you know how much is between you and between it?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Between you and it [is the distance] of five-hundred year.’ Then he said: ‘Do you know what is above that.’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Verily, above that are two Heavens, between the two of them there is a distance of five-hundred years’ – until he enumerated seven Heavens – ‘What is between each of the two Heavens is what is between the heavens and the earth.’ Then he said: ‘Do you know what is above that?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Verily, above that is the Throne between it and the heavens is a distance [like] what is between two of the heavens.’

[Ref: Jami` at-tirmidhi Book 47, Hadith 3611]

وأخرج عثمان بن سعيد عن ابن عباس قال: لحملة العرش قرون لها كعوب ككعوب القنا، ما بين أخمص أحدهم إلى كعبيه مسيرة خمس مائة عام، وبين أرنبته إلى ترقوته مسيرة خمس مائة عام، ومن ترقوته إلى موضع القرط خمس مائة عام.

`Uthman ibn Sa`id from Ibn `Abbas who said : The Bearers of the Throne have horns, which have corners like the corners of spears. The space between one of their spheres [RT] of their feet to their ankles is the distance that it would take to travel five hundred years; and the space between the tip of his nose to his collarbone is the distance that it would take to travel five hundred years; and the distance from the tip of his nose to the earlobe is five hundred years.

[Ref: Al-Habaik fi-Akhbaar al-Malaik 1/56 shamela]

وأخرج عثمان بن سعيد، وأبو يعلى بسند صحيح عن أبى هريرة قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم:) أذن لي أن أحدث عن ملك قد مرقت رجلاه الأرض السابعة، والعرش على منكبيه وهو يقول: سبحانك أين كنت، وأين تكون (.

`Uthman ibn Sa`id from Abu Y`ala with a saheeh sanad [grading by Imam suyuti and not me] from Abu Huraira (radhiallahu `anhu) from the Messenger of Allah sallalahu `alayhi wa sallam who said : Listen to me! I was told about an angel whose two legs pass through the Seven Earths and that the Throne was on his shoulders, [this angel] says: ‘I worship you, where you are and where you will be. [ and in the next narration the prophet was reported to say : one of the angels who carry the Throne; the distance between his earlobe to the shoulder is a distance of seven hundred years]

[Ref: Ibid] 

Now moving on, Have you ever heard of an Image that was 4+ GB in size? Yes one image of 4GB?

On January 5th , 2015 the NASA/ESA Hubble space telescope released the biggest ever image taken of the Andromeda Galaxy.  The Andromeda Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy approximately 780 kiloparsecs (2.5 million light-years) from Earth. It is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way and was often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts . This is one of the boundaries for  as far as Science goes when it comes to *observable evidence*

If in case you think this image is no big deal , check this 120 second + video of this image out : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udAL48P5NJU

Also for geeks this is the link you’d want to open to see how insignificantly molecularly invisibly tiny [1] our galaxy is in front of only the outer observable universe that mankind has ever got the chance to reach : http://www.space.com/28195-best-andromeda-photos-hubble-telescope.html

[1] Get Shocked To See How pathetically small Our Earth Is  in front of a few stars just around the next corner? click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJXQZALNFrc [Warning for Muslims : Contains music so you can mute it]. Please look at atleast one of the above two videos and only then you would understand the conclusion i am reaching to.  If this is how tiny our galaxy and earth is in front of only the outer observable galaxy humans have every reached to knowing ,then we can get a good idea of how huge those angels are and how huge the Universe is and most importantly why the following report makes so much sense 

وأخرج البيهقى في شعب الإيمان من طريق قتيبة عن بكر بن مضر عن صخر بن عبد الله عن زياد بن أبي حية قال: بلغنى أن من حملة العرش لمن يسيل من عينيه أمثال الأنهار من البكار فإذا رفع رأسه قال: سبحانك ما نخشى حق خشيتك، قال الله عز وجل: لكن الذين يحلفون باسمى كاذبين لا يعلمون.

And Imam Bayhaqi (rahimahullah) brought the narration in his Shu`b al-Emaan from the route of Qutaybah from Bakr ibn Madr from Sakhr ibn `Abdullah from Ziyaad ibn Abi Hayya; he said: I heard that regarding the Bearers of the Throne (of Allah) there streams from [one of their] eyes the likeness of rivers of tears. When one raises its head, it says: ‘I worship You! We do not fear You as much as You deserve to be feared!’ God, may He be praised and glorified, says: ‘But those who swear falsely by My name are liars, they do not know [that they should be fearful].’

[Ref: al-Habaik 1/60 Shamela]

The Might and power of Allah is so much that even mega-giants like these angels fear him in such a way. It is all the more sensible why taking a false oath in the name of Allah – the one who is watching your every move – is such a big crime. And combining this great sin by other sins such as taking a false oath to commit zinah, or to take someone’s property so on and so forth.

The reason i quoted the above was only to help you realize whom we are dealing with here. Often, people dealing with underworld don’s and goons tremble and even suicide fearing backlash from them. For example in the casino business a hidden code among their handlers is that they stick to their principles, especially the gangsters of Japan. If someone steals from them, even if it be $5 they will eliminate his entire progeny in guantanamo style. This fear makes many of them commit suicide thinking it is a much merciful death than what they will face if they catch him.

So if this is how humans fear other humans with wealth and power in this tiny earth, then what about taking a false oath of the one whose throne is there under-which are such creatures whose size is so massive that a human mind cannot even fathom it. ?

Thus the most important notion is to Fear Allah for if one doesn’t fear Allah or know his might and power he is bound to raise such questions , challenging or doubting what Allah and his messenger have conveyed. This is very serious and dangerous. No body is asking you to believe everything without understanding. Understanding is one of the gifts of Allah given to humans and we should thus put it to max. use. However to understand you have to undergo steps just as how we take steps into school to understand university calculations?

So if one fears Allah and knows who he is talking about he will submit and humble himself in awe and shaytaan will have a tough time messing with his head to raise doubts.