Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:226
For those who swear not to have sexual relations with their wives is a waiting time of four months, but if they return [to normal relations] - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The discourse on the interpretation of His statement, the Exalted: لِلَّذِينَ يُؤْلُونَ مِنْ نِسَائِهِمْ تَرَبُّصُ أَرْبَعَةِ أَشْهُرٍ ("For those who swear to abstain from their wives, there is a waiting period of four months") (2:226).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His statement "for those who swear" (li-lladhīna yuʾlūna): for those who take an oath (alīya). And "al-alīya" is the oath, as in:-
4478 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Maslama ibn ʿAlqama related to us, saying: Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, concerning His statement "for those who swear" (li-lladhīna yuʾlūna): those who take an oath.
* * *
One says: "ālā fulān yuʾlī īlāʾan wa-alīyatan" ("so-and-so took an oath, he takes an oath, with a swearing and an oath"), as the poet said:
We have avenged him who lies hidden in the dust, and we have broken the oath of those who swore.
And one also says "alwa" and "ulwa," as the rajaz-poet said:
* O oath, what an oath, what an oath of mine! *
And it is also transmitted from them that they say "ilwa," with a shortened (broken) alif.
* * *
And "al-tarabbuṣ" is: the waiting and the abstaining.
* * *
The meaning of the statement is: for those who swear to abstain from their wives, there is a waiting period of four months. The mention of "that they abstain" has been omitted, because one suffices with the indication that is apparent from the manifest sense of the statement.
* * *
The scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have differed concerning the nature of the oath by which the man becomes one who swears (mūlī) with respect to his wife.
Some of them said: The oath by which the man becomes one who swears with respect to his wife is: that he swears concerning her in a state of anger, in the manner of inflicting harm (ḍirār), that he will not have sexual intercourse with her in her private part. But if he swears without the intention of inflicting harm and without anger, then he is not one who swears with respect to her.
* Mention of who said that:
4479 - Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of Ḥurayth ibn ʿUmayra, on the authority of Umm ʿAṭīya, who said: Jubayr said: "Suckle my brother's son together with your son!" She said: "I cannot nurse two!" Then he swore that he would not approach her until she had weaned him. When she had weaned him, he came with him past the assembly, and the men said to him: "How well you have fed him!" Jubayr said: "I swore that I would not approach her until she had weaned him!" The men said to him: "This is an īlāʾ (oath of abstention)!!" Then he came to ʿAlī and asked him for a ruling, and he said: "If you did that out of anger, then your wife is no longer lawful for you; otherwise she is your wife."
4480 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Simāk, that he heard ʿAṭīya ibn Jubayr saying: The mother of a child, a relative of mine, died, and my father's wife suckled it. Then he swore that he would not approach her until she had weaned it. When four months had passed, it was said to him: "She has become separated from you!" - and I think, Abū Jaʿfar was uncertain, that he said -: Then he came to ʿAlī to ask him for a ruling, and he said: "If you said that out of anger, then you have no wife; otherwise she is your wife."
4481 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Dāwūd related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: Simāk informed me, saying: I heard ʿAṭīya ibn Jubayr - and he mentions something similar on the authority of ʿAlī.
4482 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAbd al-Majīd related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of a man from the Banū ʿIjl, on the authority of Abū ʿAṭīya: that his brother died and left behind a young son, and Abū ʿAṭīya said to his wife: "Suckle him!" She said: "I fear that you will harm them (by sexual intercourse during the suckling)." Then he swore that he would not approach her until she had weaned them both, and so he did until she had weaned them. Then the son of Abū ʿAṭīya's brother went to the assembly, and they said: "How well Abū ʿAṭīya has fed his brother's son!" He said: "By no means! Umm ʿAṭīya claimed that I would harm them, so I swore that I would not approach her until she had weaned them both." They said to him: "Then your wife has become forbidden to you!" He mentioned that to ʿAlī - may Allah be pleased with him - and ʿAlī said: "You intended only good; the īlāʾ applies only in anger."
4483 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of Abū ʿAṭīya: that his brother died - and he mentions something similar.
4484 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind informed us, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb: that a man's brother died, and he said to his wife: "Suckle my brother's son." She said: "I fear that you will have intercourse with me!" Then he swore that he would not touch her until she had weaned (him). He kept away from her, until, when she had weaned him, he brought the boy to his people, and they said: "You have fed him excellently!" He mentioned to them his situation, and they brought up his wife. He said: Then he went to ʿAlī, and he made him swear by Allah: "What did you intend by that?", that is, an īlāʾ. He said: Then he returned her to him.
4485 - ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath ibn Sawwār, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿAṭīya ibn Abī ʿAṭīya, who said: A brother of mine died and left behind a suckling orphan child of his, and I was a man in straitened circumstances; I had no means to pay for a wet-nurse for him. He said: My wife said to me - and I had with her a son whom she was suckling -: "If you abstain from me, I will nurse them both for you!" I said: "And how do I abstain from you?" She said: "Do not approach me." I said: "By Allah, I will not approach you until you have weaned them both." He said: Then she weaned them both, and they appeared before the people, and they said: "We see that you have taken good care of them!" He said: Then I told them the story, and they said: "We see nothing other than that you have sworn an īlāʾ against her and that she is separated from you!" He said: Then I came to ʿAlī and told him the story, and he said: "The īlāʾ is only that by which the īlāʾ is intended."
4486 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Bakr al-Bursānī related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Jābir ibn Zayd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "There is no īlāʾ except in anger."
4487 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "There is no īlāʾ except in anger."
4488 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Abū Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Abū Fazāra, on the authority of Yazīd ibn al-Aṣamm, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "There is no īlāʾ except in anger."
4489 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb, on the authority of Abū ʿAṭīya, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said: "There is no īlāʾ except in anger."
4490 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, that ʿAlī said: When the man says to his wife while she is suckling: "By Allah, I will not approach you until you have weaned my child," by which he intends the welfare of his child, then he said: no īlāʾ rests upon him.
4491 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr al-Salūlī related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Muslim al-Ṭāʾifī, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: A man came to ʿAlī and said: "I told my wife that I would not approach her for two years." He said: "You have sworn an īlāʾ against her." He said: "I said it only because she is suckling!" He said: "Then no."
4492 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of Simāk ibn Ḥarb, on the authority of Abū ʿAṭīya, on the authority of ʿAlī, that he used to say: The īlāʾ is only that which occurs in anger; the man says: "By Allah, I will not approach you; by Allah, I will not touch you!" But what occurs for the sake of betterment, in the matter of suckling or otherwise, that is not an īlāʾ, and she does not become separated from him by it.
4493 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān - that is, Ibn Mahdī - related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Zayd related to us, on the authority of Ḥafṣ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: that he was asked about that, and he said: "No, by Allah, it is not an īlāʾ."
4494 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Bishr ibn Manṣūr related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: When he swears because of the suckling, then it is not an īlāʾ.
4495 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, saying: Yūnus related to me, saying: I asked Ibn Shihāb about the man who says: "By Allah, I will not approach my wife until she has weaned my child!" He said: I do not know that the īlāʾ exists otherwise than through an oath by Allah, by which the man wishes to inflict harm on his wife by isolating himself from her; and we know the obligation of the īlāʾ only with respect to those persons. Now, do you not see that this man, who has sworn by an oath to isolate himself from his wife until she has weaned his child, has sworn only concerning a matter in which he seeks the good? So we do not see that upon this man rests what rests upon the one who swears (mūlī) who swears in anger.
* * *
And others said: It is the same: when the man swears concerning his wife that he will not have sexual intercourse with her in her private part, whether his oath was in anger or without anger, all of that is an īlāʾ.
* Mention of who said that:
4496 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm - concerning a man who said to his wife: "If I have intercourse with you until you have weaned your child, then you are divorced (ṭāliq)," and who left her for four months. He said: It is an īlāʾ.
4497 - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā informed us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of al-Nakhaʿī, who said: Everything that stands between him and intercourse with her, while he leaves her until four months pass, falls under that (the ruling of the īlāʾ).
4498 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥabbān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna informed us, on the authority of al-Mughīra, on the authority of al-Qaʿqāʿ, who said: I asked al-Ḥasan about a man whose wife is suckling a child, and who swore that he would not have intercourse with her until she had weaned her child. He said: "I do not regard this as anger; the īlāʾ applies only in anger." He said: And Ibn Sīrīn said: "I do not know what this is that they relate?! Allah has only said: لِلَّذِينَ يُؤْلُونَ مِنْ نِسَائِهِمْ ('for those who swear to abstain from their wives') up to فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ ('then truly, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing'). When four months have passed, let him ask for her hand in marriage if he desires her."
4499 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm - concerning a man who swore that he would not speak with his wife - he said: They were of the opinion that the īlāʾ pertains to intercourse.
4500 - Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, he said, he said: Every oath that prevents sexual intercourse until four months pass is an īlāʾ.
4501 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Ismāʿīl and Ashʿath, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, something similar.
4502 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm and al-Shaʿbī, who both said: Every oath that prevents sexual intercourse is an īlāʾ.
* * *
And others said: Every oath that the man swears to the detriment of his wife is an īlāʾ of his with respect to her, whether he swore concerning intercourse or concerning something else, whether he swore in contentment or in aversion.
* Mention of who said that:
4503 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Khuṣayf, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, who said: Every oath that comes to stand between the man and his wife is an īlāʾ, when he says: "By Allah, I will surely anger you; by Allah, I will surely harm you; by Allah, I will surely strike you," and such things.
4504 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: my father and Shuʿayb related to me, on the authority of al-Layth, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Abī Ḥabīb, on the authority of Ibn Abī Dhiʾb al-ʿĀmirī: that a man from his family said to his wife: "If I speak with you for a year, then you are divorced," and he asked al-Qāsim and Sālim for a ruling, and they said: If he speaks with her before the year, then she is divorced; and if he does not speak with her, then she is divorced when four months have passed.
4505 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: I heard Ḥammād saying, he said: I asked Ibrāhīm: The īlāʾ - is it that he swears that he will not have sexual intercourse with her, nor speak with her, nor join his head with her head, or that he will surely anger her, or surely withhold something from her, or surely harm her? He said: Yes.
4506 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: I asked al-Ḥakam about a man who said to his wife: "By Allah, I will surely anger you!" and who left her for four months. He said: It is an īlāʾ.
4507 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to us, saying: I heard Shuʿba saying: I asked al-Ḥakam, and he mentioned something similar.
4508 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, saying: Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Shihāb said: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab related to me: that when a man swears that he will not speak with his wife for a day or a month, he said: then we regard that as an īlāʾ. And he said: Unless he swore not to speak with her, while he nonetheless had intercourse with her; then we do not regard that as an īlāʾ. And the return (al-fayʾ) is that he returns to his wife and speaks with her or touches her. Whoever does that before the four months pass has returned. And whoever returns after four months, while she is in her waiting period (ʿiddah), has returned and has his wife in his possession again, except that one divorce (ṭalāq) has elapsed for her.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the argument of whoever says: "The īlāʾ applies only in anger and harm": that the Exalted made the term He fixed for the īlāʾ only a way out for the wife from the tyranny (ʿaḍl) of the man and his harming of her, with respect to the good companionship and the dealing in what is fitting to which she is entitled. And when the man neither tyrannizes nor harms her by his oath and his swearing to refrain from intercourse with her, but rather thereby seeks her contentment and provides for her need, then by that oath of his he is not one who swears (mūlī), because in that case no harm or evil dealing has occurred to the wife from the side of her husband, on the basis of which the term - which is fixed for the one who swears - would be made for her a way out from it.
* * *
And as for the argument of whoever says: "The īlāʾ is equal in the state of anger and that of contentment": the general character of the verse, and that the Exalted did not single out one part above another of His statement "for those who swear to abstain from their wives, there is a waiting period of four months," but rather included thereby every one who swears and takes an oath. So every one who takes an oath who swears concerning his wife that he will not have intercourse with her for a period longer than the term that Allah has set for the waiting, is according to some of them one who swears with respect to his wife. And according to some of them: he is one who swears, even if the duration of his oath is equal to the term set for the waiting.
* * *
And as for the argument of whoever speaks according to the statement of al-Shaʿbī, al-Qāsim, and Sālim: that the Exalted made the term He determined for the one who swears a way out for the wife from the evil dealing of her husband with her and his harming of her. And the oath that he will not have intercourse with her and will not approach her is no more suited to belong to the meanings of evil dealing and harm than the oath concerning her that he will not speak with her, or that he will harm her, or that he will anger her. For all of that is a harm to her and an evil dealing with her.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the interpretations that we have mentioned concerning that is the statement of whoever says: Every oath that prevents the one who takes the oath from sexual intercourse for longer than the period that Allah has set for the one who swears for the waiting, whether he made that statement in anger or in contentment (is an īlāʾ). And that is because of the argument that we mentioned earlier for those who say that.
And we have set forth conclusively the untenability of the statement of whoever dissents in that, in our book (Kitāb al-Laṭīf), so we consider it unfitting to repeat it here.
* * *
The discourse on the interpretation of His statement, the Exalted: فَإِنْ فَاءُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ("But if they return, then truly, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful") (2:226).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means thereby: but if they return to abandoning that which they had sworn to do against them, namely the refraining from sexual intercourse with them, and they then have intercourse with them and break their oath = "then truly, Allah is Forgiving," for what had proceeded from them of the falsehood in their oaths, namely that they would not come to them and then came to them afterward, and for what had earlier proceeded from them against them, namely the oath concerning something about which it was not permissible for them to swear but about which they nonetheless swore = "Merciful" toward them and toward His other believing servants.
* * *
And the original meaning of "al-fayʾ" is the returning from one state to another, and to that belongs His statement, the Exalted: وَإِنْ طَائِفَتَانِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ اقْتَتَلُوا فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَهُمَا ("And if two groups of the believers fight one another, then make reconciliation between them") up to His statement حَتَّى تَفِيءَ إِلَى أَمْرِ اللَّهِ ("until it returns to the command of Allah") [Surah al-Ḥujurāt: 9], that is: until it returns to the command of Allah. And to that belongs the statement of the poet:
Then she returned, without carrying out that for which she had come; and among the needs of man is that which remains unaccomplished.
One says of that: "fāʾa fulān yafīʾu fayʾatan" - like "al-jīʾa" - and "fayʾan." And "al-fayʾa" is the single occurrence. But as for the shade, of it one says: "fāʾa al-ẓill yafīʾu fuyūʾan wa-fayʾan." And one may also say "fuyūʾan" in the first meaning, because "al-fayʾ" in all things has the meaning of returning.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning that the scholars of interpretation spoke, except that they differed concerning that by which the one who swears becomes one who returns (fāʾī).
Some of them said: He becomes one who returns only through sexual intercourse.
* Mention of who said that:
4509 - ʿAlī ibn Sahl al-Ramlī related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Miqsam, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The return is sexual intercourse.
4510 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ziyād ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Miqsam, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The return is sexual intercourse.
4511 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Miqsam, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, something similar.
4512 - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of a companion of his, on the authority of al-Ḥakam ibn ʿUtayba, on the authority of Miqsam, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, something similar.
4513 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Masrūq, who said: The return is sexual intercourse.
4514 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Masrūq, something similar.
4515 - ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd informed us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, who said: ʿĀmir was of the opinion that the return was only sexual intercourse.
4516 - Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn informed us, saying: Ismāʿīl informed us, on the authority of ʿĀmir, something similar.
4517 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Badhīma, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: The return is sexual intercourse.
4518 - Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Nashāʾī related to us, saying: Isḥāq al-Azraq related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Badhīma, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, something similar.
4519 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: The return is sexual intercourse; there is no excuse for him except that he has intercourse, even if he is in prison or on a journey - Saʿīd is the one who says this.
4520 - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, that he said: There is no excuse for him until he has intercourse.
4521 - Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād and Iyās, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī = one of them said: on the authority of Masrūq = he said: The return is sexual intercourse = and the other said: on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: The return is sexual intercourse.
4522 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab - concerning a man who swore an īlāʾ against his wife and was thereafter prevented by illness - he said: There is no excuse for him until he has intercourse.
4523 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr - concerning the man who swears an īlāʾ against his wife before he has had intercourse with her or after he has had intercourse with her, and who is then befallen by an impediment that holds him back, or who does not find the means to provide for (her): that she, when four months have passed, has more right to herself.
4524 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Ḥakam and al-Shaʿbī, who both said: When the man swears an īlāʾ against his wife and thereafter wishes to return, then there is no return except sexual intercourse.
* * *
And others said: "The return" is the resumption with the tongue or with the heart in the case of an excuse (impediment), and outside the case of an excuse, sexual intercourse.
* Mention of who said that:
4525 - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and ʿIkrima, who both said: When he has an excuse and calls witnesses, then that is permissible for him = that is, concerning a man who swore an īlāʾ against his wife and was then prevented by illness or by a journey, and who called witnesses for the resumption with his wife.
4526 - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā informed us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of a companion of his, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, who said: al-Nakhaʿī and I discussed that, and al-Nakhaʿī said: When he has an excuse and calls witnesses, then he has returned. And I said: There is no excuse for him until he has intercourse. Then we went to Abū Wāʾil, and he said: I hope that, when he has an excuse and calls witnesses, it is valid.
4527 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: When he swears an īlāʾ and thereafter becomes ill, or is imprisoned, or goes on a journey, and resumes, then he has an excuse for not having intercourse. He said: And I heard al-Zuhrī say something similar.
4528 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥabbān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna informed us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm - concerning the woman in childbed (newly delivered) whose husband swears an īlāʾ - he said: This (case) occurred in (the tribe of) Muḥārib; the companions of ʿAbd Allāh were asked about it, and they said: When he is not able (to have intercourse), let him make atonement for his oath and call witnesses for the return.
4529 - Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ, who said: A guest came to him, and he swore an īlāʾ against his wife, and then she had post-natal bleeding; he wished to return but could not approach her because of her bleeding. Then he came to ʿAlqama and mentioned that to him, and he said: Have you not returned with your heart and been content? He said: Yes! He said: Then you have returned! She is your wife!
4530 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: that a man swore an īlāʾ against his wife, and she gave birth before four months had passed; he wished to return but could not because of the blood, until four months had passed. Then he asked ʿAlqama ibn Qays about it, and he said: Have you not resumed her within yourself? He said: Yes! He said: Then she is your wife.
4531 - ʿImrān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, saying: ʿĀmir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: When he swears an īlāʾ against his wife and thereafter is unable through an excuse to have intercourse with her, he said: let him call witnesses that he has returned, and she is his wife.
4532 - ʿImrān related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, saying: ʿĀmir related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama, something similar.
4533 - Ibn Bashshār related to us = saying: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿIkrima, who said: And ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿIkrima, who said: When he swears an īlāʾ against his wife and he exerts himself to have intercourse with her but cannot, then he may call witnesses for taking her back.
4534 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and ʿIkrima: that the two of them were asked about a man who swore an īlāʾ against his wife, and who was then prevented by some matter, and who called witnesses for the resumption with his wife; they said: When he has an excuse, then that is permissible for him.
4535 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ghundar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, who said: Ibrāhīm and I went to Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ, and he related that a man from the Banū Saʿd ibn Hammām swore an īlāʾ against his wife and she had post-natal bleeding, so that he could not approach her; and he asked al-Aswad - or one of the companions of ʿAbd Allāh -, and he said: When he calls witnesses, then she is his wife.
4536 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ghundar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, that he said: When he has an excuse and calls witnesses, then that is permissible for him - that is, the one who swears with respect to his wife.
4537 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: that he used to relate on the authority of Abū al-Shaʿthāʾ, on the authority of ʿAlqama and the companions of ʿAbd Allāh, that they said - concerning the man when he swears an īlāʾ against his wife and she has post-natal bleeding -: When he calls witnesses, then she is his wife.
4538 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ḥammād, who said: When the man swears an īlāʾ against his wife and thereafter returns, let him call witnesses for his return. And when the man swears an īlāʾ against his wife while he is in a different land than the land in which his wife is, let him call witnesses for his return. If, then, he calls witnesses while he does not know that that does not suffice in place of having intercourse with her, and four months pass before he has intercourse with her, then she is his wife. And if he knows that there is in this matter no return except in sexual intercourse, and he returns and calls witnesses for his return but does not have intercourse with her until four months have passed, then she has become separated from him.
4539 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, saying: Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Shihāb said: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab related to me: that when the man swears an īlāʾ against his wife, he said: if he has an illness and cannot touch her, or he is on a journey and is detained, he said: then, when he returns and atones for his oath and calls witnesses for his return before four months have passed, then we see nothing other than that it has become permissible for him to keep his wife, and nothing of her divorce has been lost. He said: And Ibn Shihāb said - concerning a man who swears an īlāʾ against his wife and who has only one divorce remaining against her, and who wishes to return at the end of it while he is ill or on a journey, or she is ill or menstruating or absent so that he cannot reach her, until four months pass - is there for him in any of those cases a relief, that he atones for his oath while he cannot have intercourse with his wife? He said: We hold, and Allah knows best, that if he returns before the four months, she is his wife, after he has called witnesses for that and atoned for his oath; and if that of his return does not reach her, then he has nonetheless returned before it becomes a divorce.
4540 - It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, who said: The return is sexual intercourse. And if he is not able to have sexual intercourse and he has an impediment of illness, or is absent, or is in a state of iḥrām, or something for which he has an excuse, and he returns with his tongue and calls witnesses for the contentment, then that is for him a return, if Allah wills.
* * *
And others said: "The return" is the resumption with the tongue in every state.
* Mention of who said that:
4541 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Makhlad related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr and Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: The return is that he returns with his tongue.
4542 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of Ziyād al-Aʿlam, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: The return is the calling of witnesses.
4543 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: al-Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Ziyād al-Aʿlam, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, something similar.
4544 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Abū Qilāba, who said: If he returns within himself, that suffices for him; he says: I have returned.
4545 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Rajāʾ, who said: The īlāʾ was discussed in the presence of Ibrāhīm, and he said: What do you think if his genital cannot become erect? When he calls witnesses, then she is his wife.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: Those who differ have differed concerning the interpretation of "the return" only in accordance with their difference concerning the meaning of the oath that is an "īlāʾ."
Whoever holds the view that the man becomes one who swears with respect to his wife - with the īlāʾ that Allah mentioned in His book - only through the oath concerning her that he will not have intercourse with her, made the return to be the return to doing that which he had sworn not to do, namely sexual intercourse with her; and that is intercourse in the private part when he is able to do so and it is possible for him. And when he is not able to do so and it is not possible for him, then forming the intention to do it when he is able to and it becomes possible for him, and uttering with his tongue what he has intended of that, so that the Muslims may know - according to the statement of whoever said that.
* * *
And as for the statement of whoever held that the return is sexual intercourse and nothing else: he made the impediment for him no excuse, and set for him no way out from his oath except the return to that which he had sworn to refrain from, namely sexual intercourse.
* * *
And as for whoever holds the view that he may be one who swears with respect to her through the oath that he will refrain from speaking with her, or that he will harm her or anger her or something similar of the oaths: with him the return is the return to refraining from that which he had sworn to do - of what therein is harm to her - through the firm intention to refrain from it, and the uttering thereof with his tongue in every state in which he is firmly resolved upon the return.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the statements concerning that is, in our view, the statement of whoever says: "The return is sexual intercourse," because the man, in our view, becomes one who swears with respect to his wife only through the oath of refraining from intercourse with her for the period that we have mentioned, for the reasons that we described earlier. And when that is the īlāʾ, then the return that annuls the ruling of the īlāʾ can, without doubt, be only that which is the opposite of that concerning which he swore an īlāʾ. For when He made his ruling - if he does not return to that which he swore to refrain from - the ruling that Allah has set forth for them in His book, it is known that the return to it is the doing of that which he swore to refrain from if he is able to do it, and that is sexual intercourse. Except that, when there comes to stand between him and the return - which is sexual intercourse - an impediment through an excuse, it is not permissible that he in reality be the one who refrains from intercourse with her. For the human being is only the one who refrains from = that to which he has a way to do it or to refrain from it. But whoever has no way to the doing of a matter is not the one who refrains from it.
And when that is so, then forming the intention within himself to have sexual intercourse with her suffices for him in the state of excuse, until he finds the way to sexual intercourse with her. And if he utters that with his tongue and calls witnesses against himself in that state with respect to the return and the resumption, then that is more pleasing to me.
* * *
The discourse on the interpretation of His statement, the Exalted: فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ("then truly, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful") (226).
The scholars of interpretation have differed concerning the interpretation of that.
Some of them said: The meaning of it is: "then truly, Allah is Forgiving" toward you for what you did wrong by your return to them, namely the breaking of the oath by which you had sworn by Allah concerning them that you would not have intercourse with them = "Merciful" toward you by lightening for you the atonement for your oaths, which you swore concerning them and then broke.
* Mention of who said that:
4546 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: "but if they return, then truly, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful," he said: no atonement rests upon him.
4547 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: When he returns, then no atonement rests upon him.
4548 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ḥabbān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: They were of the opinion, with respect to the statement of Allah "but if they return, then truly, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful": that his atonement is his return.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And this interpretation that we have mentioned is the interpretation that is obligatory according to the statement of whoever claims that everyone who breaks an oath the holding fast to which would be sinful, has no atonement upon him for his breaking of the oath therein, and that his atonement is the breaking of it.
* * *
And as for the statement of whoever imposed [an atonement] upon everyone who breaks any oath that he has sworn, whether the breaking of the oath therein was a pious deed or not a pious deed, his interpretation is: "then truly, Allah is Forgiving" toward those who swear with respect to their wives for what they have broken in their īlāʾ; for if they return and then atone for their oaths with that which Allah has imposed upon the oath-breakers in their oaths as atonement = "Merciful" toward them, in that He has caused the punishment in this life and the hereafter for that to fall away from them, by atoning for it with that which He has prescribed for them of compensation and atonement, and by what He has granted them of respite, namely the four months, so that He has not set for the wife whose husband swore an īlāʾ against her therein that which He has set for her after the four months, as in:-
4549 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥabbān related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Bishr related to us, that he heard ʿIkrima saying: لِلَّذِينَ يُؤْلُونَ مِنْ نِسَائِهِمْ تَرَبُّصُ أَرْبَعَةِ أَشْهُرٍ فَإِنْ فَاءُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ * وَإِنْ عَزَمُوا الطَّلاقَ ("For those who swear to abstain from their wives, there is a waiting period of four months; but if they return, then truly, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. And if they are resolved upon divorce...") - he said: And that is the mercy of Allah! He has given him disposal over her affair during the four months, except in the case of an excuse. For Allah has said: وَاللاتِي تَخَافُونَ نُشُوزَهُنَّ فَعِظُوهُنَّ وَاهْجُرُوهُنَّ فِي الْمَضَاجِعِ ("And those of whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and avoid them in the sleeping places") [Surah al-Nisāʾ: 34].
* * *
* Mention of some of those who said: When the one who swears returns, an atonement rests upon him.
4550 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: لِلَّذِينَ يُؤْلُونَ مِنْ نِسَائِهِمْ تَرَبُّصُ أَرْبَعَةِ أَشْهُرٍ ("for those who swear to abstain from their wives, there is a waiting period of four months"), and that is the man who swears to his wife by Allah that he will not have intercourse with her, and he waits four months; if he then has intercourse with her, he atones for his oath by feeding ten needy persons or clothing them or freeing a slave (raqaba); and whoever cannot find that, then the fasting of three days.
4551 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, saying: Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Shihāb related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, something similar.
4552 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ḥabbān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama informed us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said: When he swears an īlāʾ and has intercourse with her before the four months, then he atones for his oath.
4553 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥabbān related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: Abū ʿAwāna informed us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm - concerning the woman in childbed whose husband swears an īlāʾ - he said: This (case) occurred in (the tribe of) Muḥārib; the companions of ʿAbd Allāh were asked about it, and they said: When he is not able, he atones for his oath and calls witnesses for the return.
4554 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: If he returns to it, he atones for his oath, and she is his wife.
4555 - It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, on the authority of Ibn Abī Jaʿfar, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, something similar.
4556 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿAthhām related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning the īlāʾ, he said: He is held to a stand before the four months pass; if he resumes her, then she is his wife, and upon him rests an oath: he atones for it when he breaks it.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And this second interpretation is, in our view, the correct one concerning that, because of the arguments that we have set forth in our book (Kitāb al-Aymān), namely that the breaking of the oath makes atonement obligatory in everything in which the breaking of the oath is engaged of the oaths after the swearing, whether the oath was over a disobedience (maʿṣiya) or over an obedience (ṭāʿa).
