Note 40 — Chapter II
Samuel Beal translation
Footnote 40:
(return)
Some commentators expound this negatively, "That ye will not deal justly, nor be devout ..." For such wicked oaths, they say, were customary among the idolatrous inhabitants of Mecca; which gave occasion to the following saying of Mohammed: "When you swear to do a thing, and afterwards find it better to do otherwise, do that which is better, and make void your oath."