Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:228
Divorced women remain in waiting for three periods, and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs if they believe in Allah and the Last Day. And their husbands have more right to take them back in this [period] if they want reconciliation. And due to the wives is similar to what is expected of them, according to what is reasonable. But the men have a degree over them [in responsibility and authority]. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise.
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.
And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ
The exposition of the saying of the Exalted: And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ . The Exalted means by this: the divorced women, that is, those who have been repudiated after their husbands have had intercourse with them and reached them — if they are women who experience menstruation and purity — must keep themselves in a waiting period in which they refrain from marriage with husbands, for the duration of three qurūʾ.
The scholars of exposition differed concerning the meaning of the qurʾ which Allah intended by His saying: they shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ . Some said: it is the menstruation (al-ḥayḍ). Mention of who said that:
3699 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah: And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ , he said: menstruation.
3700 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: three qurūʾ , that is, three menstruations. He says: she observes a waiting period of three menstruations.
3701 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Hammām ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: I heard Qatāda concerning His saying: And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ , he says: He fixed the waiting period (ʿiddah) of the divorced women at three menstruations, and then there was excepted from that (by abrogation) the divorced woman who was repudiated before her husband had had intercourse with her, and the women who have reached menopause, and the women who do not yet menstruate, and the pregnant woman.
3702 - ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: the qurūʾ are the menstruations.
3730 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ , he said: three menstruations.
3704 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: Ibn Jurayj related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Dīnār said: the aqrāʾ are the menstruations, on the authority of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ.
3705 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of a man who heard ʿIkrima say: the aqrāʾ are the menstruations, not the purity (al-ṭuhr); the Exalted said: so repudiate them with regard to their waiting period and He did not say: "with regard to their qurūʾ".
* - Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to us, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His saying: And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ , they both said: three menstruations.
3706 - Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ , as for three qurūʾ: those are three menstruations.
3707 - Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, that a matter was brought before ʿUmar, whereupon he said to ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd: "Give your judgment on it!" The latter said: "You have more right to speak." He said: "Speak!" He said: "I say: her husband has more right to her so long as she has not washed after the third menstruation." He said: "That is my opinion; you have agreed with what was in my heart." And ʿUmar judged accordingly.
* - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of al-Nakhaʿī, on the authority of Qatāda, that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb spoke to Ibn Masʿūd, and he mentioned something similar.
3708 - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of al-Nakhaʿī, that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and Ibn Masʿūd said: her husband has more right to her so long as she has not washed, or they said: so long as the prayer (ṣalāh) has not become permissible for her.
3709 - Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba related to us, saying: Maṭar related to us that al-Ḥasan related to them: that a man repudiated his wife and charged a man of his family, or someone of his family, with the matter, but the one he had charged with it neglected it, until his wife had entered the third menstruation and was preparing her water to wash herself. Then the one charged with it went to the husband, and the husband came while she was about to wash, and he said: "O so-and-so!" She said: "What do you wish?" He said: "I have taken you back." She said: "By Allah, you have no right to that!" He said: "Yes I do, by Allah!" He said: Then they brought the matter before Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, and he made her swear by Allah, besides whom there is no god: "Had you washed yourself when he called you?" She said: "No, by Allah, I had not done so; I had only prepared my water to wash myself!" Then he returned her to her husband and said: "You have more right to her so long as she has not washed after the third menstruation."
* - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Maṭar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, something similar.
3710 - ʿImrān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, saying: Yūnus related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: ʿUmar said: he has more right to her so long as she has not washed after the third menstruation.
3711 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū al-Walīd related to us, saying: Abū Hilāl related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Yūnus ibn Jubayr: that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb repudiated his wife, and she was about to wash after the third menstruation, whereupon ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said: "She is my wife, by the Lord of the Kaʿba!" And he took her back. Ibn Bashshār said: I mentioned this report to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī, and he said: I heard this report from Abū Hilāl, on the authority of Qatāda, but Abū Hilāl is not trustworthy enough for this.
3712 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of ʿAlqama, he said: we were with ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, when a woman came and said: "My husband has repudiated me once or twice, and he came while I had already set out my water, closed my door and taken off my clothes." Then ʿUmar said to ʿAbdallāh: "What is your opinion?" He said: "I regard her as his wife so long as the prayer has not become permissible for her." ʿUmar said: "And that is also my opinion."
3713 - 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 Ibrāhīm, on the authority of al-Aswad, that he said concerning a man who repudiated his wife and then let her wait until she entered the third menstruation, whereupon she was about to wash and set out her water to wash herself, and he took her back: that ʿUmar and ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd permitted this.
* - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of al-Aswad, something similar. Except that he said: and she set out the water for washing, and he took her back, and he asked ʿAbdallāh and ʿUmar, and the latter said: he has more right to her so long as she has not washed.
3714 - Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, they both said: ʿUmar and ʿAbdallāh used always to say: when a man repudiates his wife once, retaining the right of taking her back, then he has more right to her so long as she has not washed after her third menstruation.
3715 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: al-Mughīra informed us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb used to say: when a man repudiates his wife once or twice, then he has more right to take her back, and between the two of them inheritance applies, so long as she has not washed after the third menstruation.
* - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: that a man repudiated his wife once or twice and then entrusted her matter to someone of his family, but the man neglected it until she entered her washing-place and set out her ablution-water. Then he came to him and informed him, and he came and said: "I have taken you back!" She said: "No, by Allah!" He said: "Yes, by Allah!" She said: "No, by Allah!" He said: "Yes, by Allah!" He said: Then they both swore against each other and brought the matter before al-Ashʿarī, and he made her swear by Allah that she had already washed and that the prayer had become permissible for her. She refused to swear, and he returned her to him.
* - Mujāhid ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of al-Nakhaʿī, that ʿUmar consulted Ibn Masʿūd about the man who repudiates his wife once or twice, after which she enters the third menstruation. Ibn Masʿūd said: "I regard him as the one who has more right to her so long as she has not washed." ʿUmar said: "You have agreed with what was in my heart." And he returned her to her husband.
3716 - Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: al-Nuʿmān ibn Rāshid related to us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab: that ʿAlī used to say: he has more right to her so long as she has not washed after the third menstruation.
3717 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, he said: I heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr say: when the blood ceases, there is no taking back.
3718 - 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: when a man repudiates his wife while she is in a state of purity, she observes a waiting period of three menstruations, in addition to the period of purity in which she became pure.
3719 - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Maṭar, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, that ʿUmar questioned Abū Mūsā about this, and his judgment on it had reached him, and Abū Mūsā said: "I have judged that her husband has more right to her so long as she has not washed." Then ʿUmar said: "Had you judged otherwise than this, I would have made your head hurt."
* - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab: that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib said concerning the man who marries a woman and then repudiates her once or twice: her husband has the right of taking her back, until she has washed after the third menstruation and the prayer has become permissible for her.
3720 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Rufayʿ, on the authority of Abū ʿUbayda ibn ʿAbdallāh, he said: ʿUthmān sent a messenger to Ubayy to question him about this, and Ubayy said: "And how could a hypocrite (munāfiq) give a fatwā?" Then ʿUthmān said: "I implore Allah to forbid that you should be a hypocrite, and we seek refuge in Allah from calling you a hypocrite, and we implore Allah to forbid that such a thing should exist in Islam and that you should then die without having explained it!" He said: "Well then, I am of the opinion that he has more right to her until she has washed after the third menstruation and the prayer has become permissible for her." He said: And I know nothing other than that ʿUthmān adopted this as a judgment.
3721 - 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, he said: and Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, they both said: a man took back his wife when she had taken off her clothes and was about to wash, and he said: "I have taken you back", and she said: "No!" and she washed. Then he brought the case against her before al-Ashʿarī, and he returned her to him.
3722 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Rufayʿ, on the authority of Maʿbad al-Juhanī, he said: when the divorced woman has washed her private parts after the third menstruation, she is separated from him and lawful for husbands.
* - 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 Ḥammād, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, said: her husband has the right of taking her back until she has washed after the third menstruation, and fasting (ṣawm) has become permissible for her.
* - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār and Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, they said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, he said: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him, said: he has more right to her so long as she has not washed after the third menstruation.
* - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Durust, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, on the authority of ʿAlī, something similar.
Others said: no, the qurʾ which Allah commanded the divorced women to observe as a waiting period is the purity (al-ṭuhr). Mention of who said that:
3723 - ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Bayān related to us, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿAmra, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: the aqrāʾ are the periods of purity (al-aṭhār).
* - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿUmar related to me, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, that she used to say: the aqrāʾ are the periods of purity.
3724 - Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿAmra and ʿUrwa, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: when the divorced woman enters the third menstruation, she is separated from her husband and lawful for husbands. Al-Zuhrī said: ʿAmra said: ʿĀʾisha used to say: the qurʾ is the purity, and not the menstruation.
3725 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām, something like the saying of Zayd and ʿĀʾisha.
3726 - 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 Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, something like the saying of Zayd.
3727 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab and Sulaymān ibn Yasār, that Zayd ibn Thābit said: when the divorced woman enters the third menstruation, she is separated from her husband and lawful for husbands. Maʿmar said: and al-Zuhrī gave his fatwā according to the saying of Zayd.
* - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd say: it has reached me that ʿĀʾisha said: verily, the aqrāʾ are the periods of purity.
* - Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, on the authority of Zayd ibn Thābit, he said: when she enters the third menstruation, he no longer has the right of taking her back.
3728 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī and ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn al-Musayyab: concerning a man who repudiated his wife once or twice, he said: Zayd ibn Thābit said: when she enters the third menstruation, he no longer has the right of taking her back. Ibn Abī ʿAdī added, he said: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib said: he has more right to her so long as she has not washed.
* - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn al-Musayyab, on the authority of Zayd and ʿAlī, something similar.
3729 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Zinād, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn Yasār, on the authority of Zayd ibn Thābit, he said: when she enters the third menstruation, there is no longer inheritance for her.
3730 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us — ḥ — and Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, they both said: Ayyūb related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn Yasār: that al-Aḥwaṣ, a man of the notables of the people of Syria (al-Shām), repudiated his wife once or twice, and died while she was in the third menstruation. The matter was brought before Muʿāwiya, but no knowledge of it was found with him, and he asked Faḍāla ibn ʿUbayd about it and those of the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who were there, but no knowledge of it was found with them either. Then Muʿāwiya sent a rider to Zayd ibn Thābit, and he said: she does not inherit him, and had she died, he would not have inherited her. And Ibn ʿUmar held this opinion.
3731 - 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 Sulaymān ibn Yasār, that a man named al-Aḥwaṣ, of the people of Syria, repudiated his wife once, and died while she had entered the third menstruation. The matter was brought before Muʿāwiya, but he did not know what to say, and he wrote about it to Zayd ibn Thābit, and Zayd wrote back to him: when the divorced woman enters the third menstruation, there is no inheritance between the two of them.
* - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Sulaymān ibn Yasār, that a man named al-Aḥwaṣ — and he mentioned something similar on the authority of Muʿāwiya and Zayd.
* - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, he said: Ibn ʿUmar said: when she enters the third menstruation, he no longer has the right of taking her back.
* - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, that he said concerning the divorced woman: when she enters the third menstruation, she is separated.
3732 - Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad related to me, that Nāfiʿ informed him, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿUmar and Zayd ibn Thābit, that they both used to say: when the woman enters the blood of the third menstruation, then she does not inherit him and he does not inherit her, and she is free of him and he is free of her.
* - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: it has reached me, on the authority of Zayd ibn Thābit, he said: when the woman has been repudiated and enters the third menstruation, then between the two of them there is no inheritance and no taking back.
3733 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd say: I heard Sālim ibn ʿAbdallāh say the same as the saying of Zayd ibn Thābit.
3734 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: and I heard Yaḥyā say: it has reached me, on the authority of Abān ibn ʿUthmān, that he used to say that.
* - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh related to us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Thābit, something similar.
* - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Rabbih ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Nāfiʿ: that Muʿāwiya sent a messenger to Zayd ibn Thābit, and Zayd wrote back to him: when she enters the third menstruation, she is separated. And Ibn ʿUmar used to say this.
3735 - Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd informed us, on the authority of Sulaymān and Zayd ibn Thābit, that they both said: when she has the third menstruation, there is no taking back and no inheritance.
* - Mujāhid ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Hishām ibn Ḥassān informed us, on the authority of Qays ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Bukayr ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Ashajj, on the authority of Zayd ibn Thābit, he said: when a man repudiates his wife and she sees the blood in the third menstruation, then her waiting period has elapsed.
* - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Mūsā ibn Shaddād, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn Thābit al-Anṣārī, he said: Zayd ibn Thābit used to say: when the divorced woman has the third menstruation before her husband has taken her back, then he does not possess the right of taking her back.
3736 - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Durust, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, that ʿĀʾisha and Zayd ibn Thābit said: when she enters the third menstruation, he no longer has the right of taking her back.
Abū Jaʿfar said: and the qurʾ in the language of the Arabs: its plural is qurūʾ, and the Arabs sometimes also make its plural aqrāʾ. One says in its afʿala-form: aqraʾat al-marʾa (the woman became possessed of qurʾ): when she experienced menstruation and purity, then she is tuqriʾu iqrāʾan. The original meaning of the qurʾ in the language of the Arabs is: the time of the coming of something that customarily comes at a particular moment, and of the departing of something that customarily departs at a particular moment. For this reason the Arabs said: aqraʾat ḥājatu fulānin ʿindī, meaning: the fulfillment of it has drawn near and the time of its fulfillment has arrived; and aqraʾa al-najm: when the time of its setting arrives, and aqraʾa: when the time of its rising arrives, as the poet said:
When the Pleiades — and they have already risen (aqraʾat) — the two Simāk stars (al-simākān) sense that they are setting.
And one says: aqraʾat al-rīḥ (the wind reached its qurʾ): when it blows at its time, as the Hudhalī poet said:
I loathed al-ʿAqr, the ʿAqr of the Banū Shalīl, when the winds blew at their qurʾ (at their time).
Meaning: when it blew at its time and at the moment of its blowing.
For this reason some of the Arabs called the time of the coming of the menstruation a qurʾ, since it was the blood that customarily appears at a particular time from the private part of the woman and conceals itself at another time; so one called the time of its coming a qurʾ, just as those who called the time of the coming of the wind at its time a qurʾ. For this reason the Prophet ﷺ said to Fāṭima bint Abī Ḥubaysh: "Leave off the prayer on the days of your aqrāʾ", meaning: leave off the prayer on the days of the onset of your menstruation.
And others of the Arabs called the time of the coming of the purity a qurʾ, since it was the time of the departing of the blood — the menstrual blood — and of the onset of the purity that customarily comes at a particular time. Concerning this al-Aʿshā, Maymūn ibn Qays, said:
And every year you undertake a campaign (ghazwa), and you exert yourself to the utmost in it with firm resolve, leaving behind wealth, and in glory loftiness, for what was lost therein of the qurūʾ of your wives.
So he made the qurʾ the time of the purity.
On account of what we have described concerning the meaning of the qurʾ, the exposition of the saying of Allah: And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ became unclear to the scholars of exposition. Some of them held that what the divorced woman who has aqrāʾ is commanded to observe of the aqrāʾ is the aqrāʾ of the menstruation, that is, the time of its coming according to the custom in which it comes; so He imposed upon her to keep herself in waiting for three menstruations, refraining from the marriage-proposal of husbands. And others held that what she is commanded to observe of that is rather the aqrāʾ of the purity, that is, the time of its coming according to the custom in which it comes; so He imposed upon her to keep three periods of purity as a waiting period.
Since the meaning of the qurʾ is what we have described, for the reason we have set forth, and since Allah the Exalted commanded the one who wishes to repudiate his wife not to repudiate her except in a state of purity in which no intercourse has taken place, and forbade him to repudiate her during the menstruation, it follows for the divorced woman with whom intercourse has been had — if she has aqrāʾ — that she is obligated, after the repudiation by her husband, to observe for herself certain, fixed periods of time, namely that she watches for three qurūʾ, between each two periods of purity of each of those qurūʾ there being a qurʾ that is the opposite of what she has reckoned for herself as the qurūʾ she observes. When those have elapsed, she is lawful for husbands, and her waiting period has elapsed. For when she has done that, she has entered into the ranks of those of the divorced women who themselves observed three qurūʾ, with, between the two periods of purity of each of those qurūʾ, a qurʾ that is the opposite of it. And when she has done that, she has fulfilled what her Lord imposed upon her according to the plain meaning of His revelation.
It has thus, when the matter is as we have described, become clear that the third qurʾ of her aqrāʾ — according to what we have set forth — is the third period of purity, and that with the elapsing of it and the coming of the qurʾ of the menstruation that follows upon it, her waiting period elapses.
Now if a foolish person should hold — since we call the time of the coming of the purity a qurʾ and the time of the coming of the menstruation a qurʾ — that it would be obligatory upon us to consider the woman's waiting period as elapsed at the elapsing of the second period of purity, since the period of purity in which he repudiated her, the menstruation that follows upon it, and the period of purity that follows upon it are all qurūʾ — then he has held this out of ignorance. For the ruling, with us, in everything that Allah has revealed in His Book, is according to what the outward meaning of the revelation allows, so long as Allah the Exalted has not made clear to His servants that His intent thereby is a specific restriction, whether by a revelation in His Book or upon the tongue of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When a part of it is excepted, then that excepted part is not included in the general from which the ruling was made obligatory, and the rest remains in its generality, as we have set forth in our book "The Subtle Discourse on the Principles of Legal Rulings" (Laṭīf al-qawl min al-bayān ʿan uṣūl al-aḥkām) and in others of our books.
The aqrāʾ that are the aqrāʾ of the menstruation, lying between the two periods of purity of the aqrāʾ of the purity, are thus not counted among the aqrāʾ that the waiting woman observes after the repudiation, on account of the consensus (ijmāʿ) of all the people of Islam that the aqrāʾ which Allah imposed upon her to observe three qurūʾ of are such that between each qurʾ of them lie periods of time that are in meaning opposite to her aqrāʾ that she observes. And since these, with us, deserve the name aqrāʾ, it is not permitted for her, on account of the consensus of all, to observe the waiting period otherwise than in the manner previously described.
In this verse lies a clear proof of the invalidity of the saying of the one who says: that the wife of the one who has made the īlāʾ (oath of abstention) against her becomes lawful for husbands with the elapsing of the four months, if she has had three menstruations during the four months. For Allah the Exalted imposed the waiting period upon her only after the decision of the one who made the īlāʾ to repudiate her and after the carrying out of the repudiation upon her, with His saying: and if they resolve upon divorce, then Allah is indeed All-Hearing, All-Knowing. And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ . So the Exalted imposed upon the woman, when she has become a divorced woman, to keep three qurūʾ as a waiting period. It is known that she was not a divorced woman on the day her husband made the īlāʾ against her, on account of the consensus of all that the īlāʾ is not a divorce that obligates a waiting period upon the one against whom the īlāʾ is made. And since that is so, the waiting period is thus only obligated upon her after the divorce, and the divorce befalls her only in the manner we have previously set forth.
As for the meaning of His saying: and the divorced women , that is: and the women set at liberty, no longer bound to husbands and not sought in marriage. The expression of the one who says: "so-and-so is a muṭallaqa (divorced woman)", is a mufʿala-form of the saying of the one who says: "ṭallaqa al-rajulu zawjatahu (the man repudiated his wife)", so that she is muṭallaqa. As for their expression: "she is ṭāliq", that comes from their saying: "ṭallaqahā zawjuhā (her husband repudiated her) so that she is ṭāliq", and she is taṭluqu ṭalāqan, and she is ṭāliq. And it is transmitted from some tribes of the Arabs that they say: ṭalaqat al-marʾa. This was said of her when her husband set her at liberty, as one says of the released ewe without a shepherd or guardian, when she goes out alone from her owners to graze, her way left free: "she is ṭāliq". The woman whose way is left free was likened to her, and was called by what one called the ewe whose condition we have described. As for their expression: "ṭaluqat al-marʾa", that has another meaning; this is said only when she is in labor (nufisat), and this comes from al-ṭalq (the labor pains), whereas the first comes from al-ṭalāq (the divorce). And we have set forth elsewhere that al-tarabbuṣ (the observing of the waiting period) is nothing other than refraining from marriage and restraining oneself from it.
And it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs, if they believe in Allah and the Last Day
The exposition of the saying of the Exalted: And it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs, if they believe in Allah and the Last Day . The scholars of exposition differed concerning the exposition of it. Some said: the exposition of it is: and it is not lawful for them — namely the divorced women — to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs of menstruation, when they have been repudiated; it is forbidden to them to conceal it from their husbands who have repudiated them, in the divorce in which they still have the right of taking them back over them, with the aim thereby of nullifying their rights of taking them back over them. Mention of who said that:
3737 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, he said: Allah the Exalted said: And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ up to His saying: and the men have a degree above them, and Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise . He said: it has reached us that what is created in their wombs is the pregnancy, and it has reached us that it is the menstruation; so it is not lawful for them to conceal that, in order that the waiting period might elapse and he no longer possess the right of taking her back, when he had had it.
3738 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: the menstruation.
* - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: the most of it is the menstruation.
* - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Muṭarrif, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, he said: Ibrāhīm said concerning His saying: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: the menstruation.
3739 - Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima concerning His saying: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: the menstruation. Then Khālid said: the blood.
And others said: it is the menstruation, except that what Allah the Exalted forbade her to conceal of what is created in her womb is that she should mendaciously say to her husband who repudiated her — while he desired to take her back before the third menstruation — "I have had the third menstruation", so as to nullify his right with her false claim concerning it. Mention of who said that:
3740 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAbīda ibn Muʿattib, on the authority of Ibrāhīm concerning His saying: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: the menstruation; the woman observes two qurʾ of waiting, then her husband wishes to take her back, and she says: "I have had the third."
3741 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: the most of what is intended by it is the menstruation.
And others said: no, the meaning is that what is forbidden to her to conceal from her husband who repudiated her is the pregnancy and the menstruation together. Mention of who said that:
3742 - Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: al-Ashʿath related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs of menstruation and pregnancy; it is not lawful for her, if she is menstruating, to conceal her menstruation, and it is not lawful for her, if she is pregnant, to conceal her pregnancy.
3743 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Muṭarrif, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His saying: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: the pregnancy and the menstruation. Ibn Kurayb said: Ibn Idrīs said: this is the first report I heard from Muṭarrif.
* - Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Muṭarrif, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar, except that he said: the pregnancy (al-ḥabl).
* - Ismāʿīl ibn Mūsā al-Fazārī related to us, saying: Abū Isḥāq al-Fazārī related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His saying: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: of menstruation and child.
* - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Muslim ibn Khālid al-Zanjī informed me, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: of menstruation and child.
* - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning the saying of Allah the Exalted: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: it is not lawful for the divorced woman to say "I am menstruating" while she is not menstruating, nor to say "I am pregnant" while she is not pregnant, nor to say "I am not pregnant" while she is pregnant.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥajjāj, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: the menstruation and the pregnancy; he said: the exposition of it is that she does not say "I am menstruating" while she is not menstruating, nor "I am not menstruating" while she is menstruating, nor "I am pregnant" while she is not pregnant, nor "I am not pregnant" while she is pregnant.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥajjāj, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something resembling this exposition of this verse.
3744 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar, and he added, he said: and all that concerns the aversion or the love of the woman for her husband.
3745 - It was related to us on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ concerning His saying: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he says: it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs of menstruation and pregnancy; it is not lawful for her to say "I have menstruated" while she has not menstruated, and it is not lawful to say "I have not menstruated" while she has menstruated, and it is not lawful for her to say "I am pregnant" while she is not pregnant, nor to say "I am not pregnant" while she is pregnant.
3746 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , the verse, he said: they conceal neither the menstruation nor the child, and it is not lawful for her to conceal this from him while he does not know when she becomes lawful, lest he take her back in order to harm her.
3747 - Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His saying: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he means the child, he said: the menstruation and the child, that is what is entrusted to the women.
And others said: no, by it the pregnancy is intended. Then the proponents of this differed among themselves concerning the reason why she was forbidden to conceal that from the man. Some said: she was forbidden that lest she nullify the husband's right of taking her back when he wished to take her back before her delivery and the end of her pregnancy. Mention of who said that:
3748 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Qabāth ibn Razīn, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Rabāḥ, that he related to him that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said to a man: "Recite this verse", and he recited. Then he said: "Verily, so-and-so is among those who conceal what Allah has created in their wombs." She had been repudiated while she was pregnant, and she kept it hidden until she gave birth.
3749 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh 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, he said: when a man repudiates his wife once or twice while she is pregnant, then he has more right to take her back so long as she has not given birth, and that is His saying: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs, if they believe in Allah and the Last Day .
3750 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Bishr, that he heard ʿIkrima say: the divorce is twice, with taking back in between; and if he resolves to repudiate her after these two, then that is the third, and if he has repudiated her three times, then she has become forbidden to him until she marries another husband. Verily, the women mentioned in the Qurʾān: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs, if they believe in Allah and the Last Day, and their husbands have more right to take them back are those who have been repudiated once or twice and then concealed their pregnancy in order to escape from their husband. But when he has carried out the three divorces, then he no longer has the right of taking her back over her until she marries another husband.
And others said: the reason why they were forbidden to conceal that is that they used to conceal it from their husbands in the pre-Islamic time (al-jāhiliyya), out of fear of their taking them back, until they married another, so that the lineage of the pregnancy — which is that of the husband who repudiated — was attributed to the one whom she married. Allah forbade them that. Mention of who said that:
3751 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His saying: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: when the woman had been repudiated, she used to conceal what was in her belly and her pregnancy in order to bring the child to someone other than its father, and Allah detested that for them.
* - Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: Allah knew that among them were concealers who concealed the child, and in the pre-Islamic time the man repudiated his wife while she was pregnant, and she concealed the child and brought it to another, and she concealed it out of fear of being taken back; then Allah forbade that and established a precept therein.
* - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , he said: the woman used to conceal her pregnancy until she attributed it to a man other than him.
And others said: no, the reason why they were forbidden to conceal that is that the man, when he wished to repudiate his wife, asked her whether she was pregnant, lest he repudiate her while she was pregnant by him, on account of the harm that would befall him and his child upon her repudiation if he separated from her; therefore they were commanded to speak the truth therein and were forbidden to lie. Mention of who said that:
3752 - Mūsā related to me, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , namely: the man wishes to repudiate his wife and asks her: "Are you pregnant?" and she conceals it from him because she wants to separate from him, so he repudiates her while she has concealed it from him until she gives birth. And when he comes to know that, then she is returned to him as a punishment for what she concealed from him, and her husband has more right to take her back, humbled.
The most correct of these sayings concerning the exposition of the verse is the saying of the one who says: that what the divorced woman is forbidden to conceal from her husband who repudiated her once or twice of what Allah has created in her womb is the menstruation and the pregnancy. For there is no disagreement among all that the waiting period elapses upon the bearing of the child that Allah has created in her womb, likewise as it elapses by the blood when she sees it after the third period of purity according to the saying of the one who says: the qurʾ is the purity, and according to the saying of the one who says: it is the menstruation when it ceases at the third menstruation and she purifies herself thereafter by washing. Since that is so, and since Allah the Exalted forbade them only — for the husband who repudiated, whose case we have described — to conceal that by whose concealment they would nullify his right, which Allah gave him over them after the divorce until the elapsing of their waiting period, and since that right is nullified by their bearing of what is in their bellies if they are pregnant, and by the elapsing of the three aqrāʾ if they are not pregnant, one knows that they are forbidden to conceal from their husbands who repudiated either of the two — I mean the menstruation and the pregnancy — in the same manner as the other is forbidden to them. And there is no reason for the one who restricted it to one of the two with the claim that by the verse only one of them is intended and not the other, since both together belong to what Allah has created in their wombs, and since in each of the two there lies a meaning of the nullification of the husband's right at the end of it, equal to what lies in the other.
And one should ask the one who restricted it and assigned it only to one of the two meanings and not the other for the proof of the correctness of his claim, from a principle or an argument to which one must submit; then one can turn the saying about it back upon him, for he will say nothing about one of the two but that one obligates him to say the same about the other.
As for what al-Suddī said — that by it is intended the prohibition to the women of concealing the pregnancy from their husbands when they wish to repudiate them — that is a saying that contradicts what the outward meaning of the revelation indicates. For Allah the Exalted said: And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ, and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs , meaning: and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs during the three qurūʾ, if they believe in Allah and the Last Day. For Allah the Exalted mentioned the prohibition of that to them after He had described them with what He described them of separation from their husbands by the divorce, and after He had informed them of the waiting period that is obligatory upon them, making known to them thereby what is forbidden to them and what is lawful to them, and what is obligatory upon them of waiting and what is imposed upon them therein. Among what He made known to them, then, was that it is obligatory upon them not to conceal from their husbands the menstruation and the pregnancy, whereby — by the bearing of the one and the elapsing of the other — the end of the rights of their husbands comes to a fixed limit, out of the infliction of harm on their part upon them. It is thus more fitting that His prohibition of what He has forbidden them of that should belong to the description of what precedes it and what follows it, than that it should belong to the description of something of which no prior mention has been made.
If someone should say: what is the meaning of His saying: if they believe in Allah and the Last Day ? Is it then lawful for them to conceal that from their husbands if they do not believe in Allah and do not believe in the Last Day, so that He restricted the prohibition of that to the believers in Allah and the Last Day? — then it is said: the meaning of it is other than what you are going toward. The meaning of it is rather: the concealment by the divorced woman from her husband who repudiated her of what Allah the Exalted has created in her womb of menstruation and child, during the days of her waiting period after his divorce, in order to harm him, is not the act of one who believes in Allah and the Last Day, nor does it belong to his nature; rather, that is the act of one who does not believe in Allah and does not believe in the Last Day, and it is the nature of the unbelieving women among the women. So do not, O believing women, adopt their nature, for that is not lawful for you if you believe in Allah and the Last Day and belong to the Muslim women. It is not that the believing women are the ones to whom that is forbidden exclusively and not the unbelieving women; rather, it is obligatory upon every woman upon whom the obligations of Allah rest and who has aqrāʾ, when she has been repudiated after intercourse with her, that she not conceal from her husband during her waiting period what Allah has created in her womb of menstruation and pregnancy.
And their husbands have more right to take them back therein, if they desire reconciliation
The exposition of the saying of the Exalted: and their husbands have more right to take them back therein, if they desire reconciliation . The buʿūla is the plural of baʿl: that is the husband of the woman, and from that comes the saying of Jarīr:
Prepare, together with the ornaments, the perfume, for verily Jarīr is your baʿl and you are his wives.
And the baʿl may also be put in the plural as buʿūla and as buʿūl, just as faḥl (male animal) is put in the plural as fuḥūl and fuḥūla, and dhakar (male) as dhukūr and dhukūra. Likewise, as for the "faʿūl" form in the plural, the Arabs often add the hāʾ to it. As for what of those words has the "fiʿāl" form, the adding of the hāʾ to it is rare in their speech. Yet it is transmitted from them: al-ʿiẓām and al-ʿiẓāma, and from that comes the saying of the rajaz-poet:
Then I buried the dung and the bones (al-ʿiẓāma).
And one has said: al-ḥijāra and al-ḥijār, and al-mihāra and al-mihār, and al-dhikāra and al-dhikār, for the male animals.
As for the exposition of the words, it is: the husbands of the divorced women, upon whom we have imposed that they keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ, and whom we have forbidden to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs, have more and greater right to take them back to themselves during their waiting period, up to the three aqrāʾ and the days of the menstruations, and to return them to their marriage-bond — sooner than they may withhold that from them for themselves — as:
3753 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His saying: and their husbands have more right to take them back therein, if they desire reconciliation , he says: when a man repudiates his wife once or twice while she is pregnant, then he has more right to take her back so long as she has not given birth.
3754 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: and their husbands have more right to take them back , he said: during the waiting period.
3755 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related to us, on the authority of Yazīd al-Naḥwī, on the authority of ʿIkrima and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, they both said: Allah the Exalted said: And the divorced women shall keep themselves in waiting for three qurūʾ, and it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs, if they believe in Allah and the Last Day, and their husbands have more right to take them back therein, if they desire reconciliation , and that is because the man, when he repudiated his wife, had more right to take her back, even if he had repudiated her three times; then that was abrogated and He said: The divorce is twice , the verse (2:229).
3756 - Mūsā ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His saying: and their husbands have more right to take them back therein , during their waiting period.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
* - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: during the waiting period.
3757 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His saying: and their husbands have more right to take them back therein , that is: during the qurūʾ in the three menstruations, or three months, or if she was pregnant; so when her husband repudiated her once or twice, he takes her back if he wishes, so long as she is in her waiting period.
3758 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His saying: and their husbands have more right to take them back therein , he said: the woman used to conceal her pregnancy until she attributed it to another man, and Allah forbade them that and said: and their husbands have more right to take them back therein . Qatāda said: they have more right to take them back during the waiting period.
3759 - It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ concerning His saying: and their husbands have more right to take them back therein , he says: during the waiting period, so long as he has not repudiated her three times.
3760 - Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: and their husbands have more right to take them back therein , he says: he has more right to take her back, humbled, as a punishment for what she concealed from her husband of pregnancy.
3761 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: and their husbands have more right to take them back , they have more right to take them back so long as the waiting period has not elapsed.
3762 - Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: and their husbands have more right to take them back therein , he said: so long as she is in the waiting period, when he wishes to take her back.
If someone should say to us: does the husband who repudiated once or twice after intercourse with her have the right of taking her back over her during her three aqrāʾ only if by the taking back he intends the improvement of her affair and his affair? — then it is said: as for what is between him and Allah the Exalted, then it is not lawful for him to take her back if by the taking back he intends to harm her and not the improvement of her affair and his affair. But as for the ruling, then the taking back over her is granted to him, just as we rule concerning him that his taking back over her would lapse if she were to conceal from him her pregnancy, which Allah created in her womb, or her menstruation, until her waiting period had elapsed, in order to harm him — while Allah has forbidden concealing that. It is thus, as regards the ruling concerning the lapsing of the taking back of her husband over her, equal; while she has sinned by her concealment from him of what she concealed of that until her waiting period elapsed, and she who obeyed Allah by leaving off that concealment from him, though they differ in the obedience to Allah therein and the disobedience to it. Likewise, the one who takes back his wife who has been repudiated once or twice after intercourse with her, while they are both free persons, and even if by the taking back he intends to harm her — the taking back is granted to him, though he sins by his intention in his act and by his doing what Allah has not made lawful for him; and Allah will fully requite him for what he committed therein. As for the servants, then it is not lawful for them to come between him and his wife whom he has taken back by Allah's ruling, since she is then his wife; and if after the taking back he seeks to harm her otherwise than according to the right that Allah has given him, then there are claimed for her the rights that Allah the Exalted has imposed upon the husbands on behalf of the wives, until the harm that he intended thereby falls back upon himself and not upon her.
And in His saying: and their husbands have more right to take them back therein lies the clearest proof of the correctness of the saying of the one who says: that the one who has made the īlāʾ, when he resolves upon the divorce and repudiates his wife against whom he made the īlāʾ, has the right of taking her back over her in that divorce of his; and of the invalidity of the saying of the one who says: that the elapsing of the four months constitutes the resolution upon divorce, and that it is an irrevocable divorce. For Allah the Exalted made known to His servants only what is obligatory upon them when they make the īlāʾ against their wives, and what is obligatory upon the women of rulings, in this verse, by the īlāʾ of the men and their divorce, when they resolve upon that and leave off the return (al-fayʾ).
And they have the like of that which is upon them, according to what is fitting
The exposition of the saying of the Exalted: And they have the like of that which is upon them, according to what is fitting . The scholars of exposition differed concerning the exposition of it. Some said: the exposition of it is: and they have, in good companionship and conduct according to what is fitting toward their husbands, a right equal to what is upon them of obedience in what Allah the Exalted has imposed upon the husband over her. Mention of who said that:
3763 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His saying: and they have the like of that which is upon them, according to what is fitting , he said: when they obey Allah and obey their husbands, then it is upon him that he keep good company with her, ward off his harm from her, and provide her maintenance to the extent of his capacity.
3764 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: and they have the like of that which is upon them, according to what is fitting , he said: they fear Allah with regard to them, just as it is upon them that they fear Allah with regard to them.
And others said: the meaning of it is: and they have toward their husbands a right to adornment and kindly approach, equal to what is upon them toward them therein. Mention of who said that:
3765 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Bishr ibn Salmān, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: verily, I love to adorn myself for my wife, just as I love that she should adorn herself for me; for Allah the Exalted says: and they have the like of that which is upon them, according to what is fitting .
And what, in my opinion, is most fitting for the exposition of the verse is: and the women who have been repudiated once or twice after intercourse with them have a right toward their husbands that these not take them back in order to harm them during their three aqrāʾ when they wish to take them back therein — unless they intend the improvement of her affair and their affair — so that they not take them back in order to harm them; equal to what is upon them toward them, namely that they, when these wish to take them back therein, not conceal what Allah has created in their wombs of child and menstrual blood, in order to harm them by withdrawing themselves from them. That is because Allah the Exalted forbade the divorced women to conceal from their husbands during their aqrāʾ what Allah has created in their wombs, if they believe in Allah and the Last Day, and gave their husbands more right to take them back therein if they desire reconciliation. So Allah forbade each of the two to harm the other, and made known to each of the two what is his right and what is his duty therein; then He followed that with His saying: and they have the like of that which is upon them, according to what is fitting , and thus made clear that what is upon each of the two toward the other of refraining from the infliction of harm is equal to what he has over the other of that.
This exposition is thus more in agreement with the indication of the outward meaning of the revelation than another. And it is possible that all that is upon each of the two toward the other therein is included — even though the verse came down concerning what we have described — because Allah the Exalted gave to each of the two over the other a right, so that upon each of the two toward the other is the fulfillment of his right to him, equal to what is upon him in his favor. Then there falls, at that point, under the verse what al-Ḍaḥḥāk and Ibn ʿAbbās and others have said.
And the men have a degree above them
The exposition of the saying of the Exalted: And the men have a degree above them . The scholars of exposition differed concerning the exposition of it. Some said: the meaning of the degree that Allah has set for the men above the women is the precedence by which Allah has favored them over her in inheritance, jihād, and the like. Mention of who said that:
3766 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His saying: and the men have a degree above them , he said: the precedence by which Allah has favored him over her in jihād, and the precedence of his share of inheritance, and all that in which he is favored over her.
* - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.
3767 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: and the men have a degree above them , he said: the men have a degree in precedence above the women.
And others said: no, that degree is the authority (al-imra) and the obedience. Mention of who said that:
3768 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam concerning His saying: and the men have a degree above them , he said: the authority (imāra).
3769 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: and the men have a degree above them , he said: obedience; he said: the wives obey the men, and the men do not obey them.
3770 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Azhar related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Muḥammad concerning His saying: and the men have a degree above them , he said: I know nothing other than that they have the like of that which is upon them, when they acknowledge that degree.
And others said: that degree he has over her on account of the bride-gift (ṣadāq) that he has assigned to her, and because, when she accuses him of fornication (qadhf), she undergoes the prescribed punishment (ḥadd), and when he accuses her, he makes the imprecation oath (liʿān). Mention of who said that:
3771 - Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAbīda, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī concerning His saying: and the men have a degree above them , he said: on account of what he has given her of bride-gift, and because, when he accuses her, he makes the liʿān against her, and when she accuses him, she is flogged and remains with him.
And others said: that degree which he has over her is his generosity toward her and the fulfillment of her right to her, and his forgoing of the obligatory that he has over her, or a part of it. Mention of who said that:
3772 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Bishr ibn Salmān, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: I do not love to claim my full right over her, for Allah the Exalted says: and the men have a degree above them .
And others said: no, that degree which he has over her is that He has given him a beard and withheld that from her. Mention of who said that:
3773 - Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to me, saying: ʿUbayd ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ related to us, saying: Ḥumayd related to us, saying: and the men have a degree above them , he said: a beard.
And the most correct of these sayings concerning the exposition of the verse is what Ibn ʿAbbās said, namely that the degree which Allah the Exalted has mentioned in this place is the forgoing of the man toward his wife of a part of the obligatory that is upon her, and his overlooking of it for her, and the fulfillment of all the obligatory that is upon him in her favor. That is because Allah the Exalted said: and the men have a degree above them immediately after His saying: and they have the like of that which is upon them, according to what is fitting . So the Exalted made known that upon the man is the refraining from inflicting harm upon her in his taking her back during her three aqrāʾ and in others of her affairs and rights, equal to what he has over her, namely the refraining from her infliction of harm upon him in her concealing from him what Allah has created in their wombs and others of his rights. Then He urged the men to the taking on of precedence toward her when they leave off the fulfillment of a part of what Allah has imposed upon them in her favor, and the Exalted said: and the men have a degree above them by their generosity toward her, and their overlooking for her of a part of the obligatory that is due to them over her. And this is the meaning that Ibn ʿAbbās intended by his saying: I do not love to claim my full right over her, for Allah the Exalted says: and the men have a degree above them . The meaning of the degree (daraja) is: the rank and the position. And this saying of Allah the Exalted — even though its outward form is the form of a statement — has the meaning of an urging to the men to take upon themselves precedence toward the women, so that they may have over her the precedence of a degree.
And Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise
The exposition of the saying of the Exalted: And Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise . The Exalted means by it: and Allah is All-Mighty in His requital to whoever transgresses His command and oversteps His limits, and thus approaches the women during the menstruation, and makes Allah a target of his oaths against doing good, being god-fearing, and making reconciliation between people, and presses his wife hard by his īlāʾ, and harms her in his taking her back after his divorce; and to whoever of the women conceals from their husbands what Allah has created in their wombs, and marries during her waiting period, and leaves off the waiting period for herself up to the time that Allah has fixed for her, and commits others of His acts of disobedience. All-Wise in what He has decreed among His creation, and in what He has judged and decided between them of His rulings. As:
3774 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ concerning His saying: and Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise , he says: All-Mighty in His requital, All-Wise in His command.
And Allah the Exalted threatened His servants with this saying only on account of the fact that He had, prior to it, set forth the exposition of what He has forbidden them or restrained them from, from the beginning of His saying: And do not marry the polytheistic women (mushrikāt) until they believe up to His saying: and the men have a degree above them ; then He followed that with the threat, in order that the possessors of intellect might restrain themselves and the possessors of insight might be admonished, so that they would fear His chastisement and guard themselves against His torment (ʿadhāb).
