Wallahi, swearing by Allah

Wallahi (وَاللَّهِ) means "by Allah", or in plain English, "I swear by God". The letter wa at the start is the Arabic letter of oath, so wallahi is not just emphasis: it is an oath. Billahi and tallahi mean the same. When a Muslim says wallahi, he calls on Allah as witness to his words, and that carries weight with Allah.

Is wallahi only for Muslims?

Wallahi is an Arabic word, and Allah is the Arabic word for God, used by Arab Christians and Jews too. So you will hear wallahi from Arabic speakers of every faith, and from many young people who have picked it up as slang. For a Muslim, though, it is never only slang. It is an oath by Allah, with the rulings below.

Is it allowed to say wallahi?

Yes. Swearing by Allah is allowed, and the Prophet ﷺ swore by Allah when there was a reason, for example "Wallahi, I seek Allah's forgiveness and turn to Him more than seventy times a day" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6307). But the Quran asks believers to be careful with oaths: "guard your oaths" (5:89), and do not make Allah's name an excuse in your oaths (2:224). It even warns against "every worthless habitual swearer" (68:10, translation by Sahih International). So swear only when it matters, only to the truth, and do not use wallahi as filler.

Swearing by anything other than Allah

The Prophet ﷺ heard Umar swearing by his father and said: "Allah forbids you to swear by your fathers. Whoever swears, let him swear by Allah or keep silent" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6646). Ibn Umar heard a man say "no, by the Kaaba" and told him he had heard the Prophet ﷺ say: "Whoever swears by other than Allah has committed kufr or shirk" (Jami at-Tirmidhi 1535, graded hasan; Sunan Abi Dawud 3251). At-Tirmidhi explained that many scholars took this as a stern warning, not as leaving Islam. So do not say "I swear on my mother's life", "by the Kaaba", "by the Prophet" or "on my kids". Swear by Allah, or do not swear.

The ruling, Hanafi first

What if you break a wallahi?

If you swore by Allah to do something, or not to do it, and then broke that oath, you owe kaffarah: feed ten poor people, or clothe ten poor people, and only if you cannot afford that, fast three days, which the Hanafi school requires to be consecutive (5:89). Our kaffarah calculator works out the amount in your currency. If you swore to do something wrong, or to stop doing something good, break the oath and pay the kaffarah: the Prophet ﷺ said, "If you swear an oath and then see something better, expiate your oath and do what is better" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6622).

Lying with wallahi

Swearing by Allah to something you know is false is al-yamin al-ghamus, the "drowning" oath, named so because it drowns the one who swears it in sin. The Prophet ﷺ listed it with shirk, disobeying parents and killing among the major sins (Sahih al-Bukhari 6675). In the Hanafi school there is no kaffarah that wipes it out: the way back is sincere tawbah and putting right any harm it caused.

A better habit

Many Muslims say wallahi without thinking, to make a story sound true. Scholars advise dropping the habit, both out of respect for Allah's name and because, in the Hanafi school, a casual "wallahi, I'll come tomorrow" is a real oath. Let your yes be yes. For plans, say inshaAllah instead of swearing.

Spellings

Wallahi, wallah, wAllahi and walla are the same word. Wallahi al-azeem is the stronger form, and billahi alayk ("by Allah, I ask you") is a different use, to ask someone something earnestly.

1. Quran 5:89, 2:224-225 and 68:10, translation by Sahih International.
2. Sahih al-Bukhari 6646; Sahih Muslim 1646, from Ibn Umar.
3. Jami at-Tirmidhi 1535, graded hasan by at-Tirmidhi; Sunan Abi Dawud 3251, graded sahih.
4. Sahih al-Bukhari 6617 and 6307.
5. Sahih al-Bukhari 6622, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Samurah.
6. Sahih al-Bukhari 6675, from Abdullah ibn Amr.
7. Sahih al-Bukhari 4613, from Aishah, on laghw.
8. Al-Marghinani, al-Hidayah, and Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Ayman. The other madhhabs' positions are summarised from their standard manuals.

The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.