Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:236
There is no blame upon you if you divorce women you have not touched nor specified for them an obligation. But give them [a gift of] compensation - the wealthy according to his capability and the poor according to his capability - a provision according to what is acceptable, a duty upon the doers of good.
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 ruling on the interpretation of His word: لا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ مَا لَمْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ (There is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — praised be His mention — means by His word "there is no sin upon you" (lā junāḥa ʿalaykum): there is no objection upon you if you divorce women.
He says: there is no objection upon you in divorcing your women and wives, "as long as you have not touched them" (mā lam tumāssūhunna); by this He means: as long as you have not had sexual intercourse with them.
* * *
"Touching" (al-mumāssa) is in this place a euphemistic circumlocution (kināya) for the designation of sexual intercourse, as in:
5190 — Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us — and Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us — both said together: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Bishr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: "Touching" (al-mass) is sexual intercourse, but Allah euphemistically circumscribes what He wills with what He wills.
5191 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "Touching" (al-mass) is sexual intercourse (al-nikāḥ).
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters have recited it differently. The general reading of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and of Basra recites it: "mā lam tamassūhunna", with a fatḥa on the "tāʾ" of "tamassūhunna", without "alif", derived from your expression "massastuhu, amassuhu, massan wa-masīsan wa-masīsā", shortened, with shadda and without a continuous inflection. It is as though those who preferred that reading did so in order to make it accord with the reading upon which there is agreement in His word: وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ [Surah Āl ʿImrān: 47; Surah Maryam: 20] (while no human being has touched me).
* * *
Others recite it: "mā lam tumāssūhunna", with a ḍamma on the "tāʾ" and with the "alif" after the "mīm", in order to make it accord with the reading upon which there is agreement in His word: فَتَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يَتَمَاسَّا [Surah al-Mujādala: 3] (then the freeing (taḥrīr) of a slave is obligatory, before they touch one another), and they gave to it the meaning of the act of both the man and the woman toward his companion, derived from your expression: "māsastu al-shayʾa, umāssuhu, mumāssatan wa-misāsan".
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: What we hold concerning this is that they are two readings that are correct in meaning and that agree in interpretation, even if one of the two contains an additional nuance of meaning that produces no difference in the legal ruling or in the understanding of it.
That is because no rational person is ignorant, when it is said to him "I touched my wife (masastu)", that the body of the touched woman has met that of the body of the touching man which his met of the body of the touched one. Thus concerning each of the two — even if the report about him is made separately, namely that he is the one who touched his companion — by that very same report it is understood that his companion, the touched one, touched him. There is therefore no ground — given the agreement of their meanings and the multitude of reciters for each of the two — to judge one of the two readings as more in accordance with correctness than the other; rather, what is obligatory is that the reciter, with whichever of the two he recites, attains what is correct in his reading.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — by His word "there is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them" meant only the women who are divorced before one cohabits with them, in a marriage for which a bridal gift (ṣadāq) has already been stipulated for them. We have said only that it is so, because every married woman is only one of two cases: either a woman for whom the bridal gift has been stipulated, or a woman for whom it has not been stipulated. We have then learned, by what follows hereafter in His word — praised be His mention — that by His word "there is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them" only the woman is meant for whom it has been stipulated. For if the one meant by it were a woman upon whom the bridal gift has not been imposed, then His word أَوْ تَفْرِضُوا لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً (or stipulate for them an obligation) would have no comprehensible meaning. For there would be no meaning in the statement of one who says: "there is no sin upon you when you divorce women as long as you have not stipulated for them an obligation in a marriage in which you have not touched them, or as long as you have not stipulated for them an obligation." And since this has no meaning, it is known that the correct interpretation of this is: there is no sin upon you if you divorce those of your women for whom the bridal gift has been stipulated before you touch them, nor those for whom it has not been stipulated, before the stipulation.
* * *
The ruling on the interpretation of His word — the Exalted: أَوْ تَفْرِضُوا لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً (or stipulate for them an obligation)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — praised be His mention — means by His word "or stipulate for them" (aw tafriḍū lahunna): or make obligatory for them. And by His word "an obligation" (farīḍa): an obligatory bridal gift. As in:
5192 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "or stipulate for them an obligation", he said: The obligation (al-farīḍa) is the bridal gift (al-ṣadāq).
* * *
The origin of "al-farḍ" is: the obligatory (al-wājib), as the poet said:
"It was an obligation (farīḍa), what I committed, just as fornication (al-zinā) was an obligation of stoning (al-rajm)"
He means: just as stoning was the obligatory penalty of the prescribed punishment (ḥadd) for fornication. Therefore one says: "the ruler stipulated (faraḍa) two thousand for so-and-so", by which is meant: he made that obligatory for him and assigned it to him as a stipend from the register (dīwān).
* * *
The ruling on the interpretation of His word — the Exalted: وَمَتِّعُوهُنَّ عَلَى الْمُوسِعِ قَدَرُهُ وَعَلَى الْمُقْتِرِ قَدَرُهُ (and provide for them a gift; upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — praised be His mention — means by His word "and provide for them a gift" (wa-mattiʿūhunna): and give them from your possessions that which they can enjoy, according to your means and according to your position with respect to wealth and need.
* * *
Then the people differed in interpretation concerning the extent of that which Allah enjoined upon the men in this regard.
Some of them said: the highest of it is a servant/slave (khādim), below it the silver coin (al-wariq), and below it the clothing.
* Mention of those who said that:
5193 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The gift (mutʿa) at divorce is, at the highest, a servant/slave, below it the silver coin, and below it the clothing.
5194 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Umayya, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, with similar import.
5195 — Aḥmad related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, his word: "and provide for them a gift; upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means." I said to him: what is the average gift for the divorced woman? He said: her head-covering, her undergarment, her outer garment (jilbāb), and her wrap.
5196 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his word: "and provide for them a gift; upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means, a gift according to what is proper, a duty upon the doers of good." This concerns the man who marries a woman and has not stipulated a bridal gift for her, and then divorces her before he has had intercourse with her. Allah, praised be He, has commanded that he provide her with a gift according to his hardship and his ease. If he is well-to-do, he provides her with a servant/slave or the like; and if he is needy, he provides her with three garments or the like.
5197 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, concerning His word: "and provide for them a gift; upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means", he said: I said to al-Shaʿbī: what is the average of that? He said: her clothing in her house, her undergarment, her head-covering, her wrap, and her outer garment (jilbāb).
Al-Shaʿbī said: Shurayḥ used to set the gift at five hundred.
5198 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿĀmir: that Shurayḥ used to set the gift at five hundred. I said to ʿĀmir: what is the average of that? He said: her clothing in her house, an undergarment, a head-covering, a wrap, and an outer garment (jilbāb).
5199 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿAmmār al-Shaʿbī, that he said: the average of the gift is the woman's clothing in her house, an undergarment, a head-covering, a wrap, and an outer garment (jilbāb).
5200 — ʿImrān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: that Shurayḥ set the gift at five hundred. And al-Shaʿbī said: the average of the gift is an undergarment, a head-covering, an outer garment (jilbāb), and a wrap.
5201 — 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 ibn Anas, concerning His word: "There is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them, or stipulate for them an obligation; and provide for them a gift; upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means, a gift according to what is proper, a duty upon the doers of good." He said: it concerns the man who marries a woman and does not stipulate a bridal gift for her, and then divorces her before he enters in upon her; for her there is then a gift according to what is proper, and she has no bridal gift. He said: the least of that is three garments: an undergarment, a head-covering, an outer garment (jilbāb), and a loincloth (izār).
5202 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "There is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them" up to: "a duty upon the doers of good." This concerns the man who marries a woman and does not stipulate a bridal gift for her, and then divorces her before he enters in upon her; for her there is then a gift according to what is proper, and she has no obligation. They used to say: if he is wealthy, then a loincloth, an outer garment (jilbāb), an undergarment, and a head-covering are indispensable.
5203 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Ṣāliḥ ibn Ṣāliḥ, who said: ʿĀmir was asked: with how much does a man provide his wife as a gift? He said: according to the measure of his means.
5204 — ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to me, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm, who said: I heard Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf relate, on the authority of his mother, who said: it is as though I am looking at a black slave-girl whom ʿAbd al-Raḥmān — the father of Abū Salama — gave as a gift when he divorced her (the mother).
Shuʿba was asked: what does "ḥammama-hā" mean? He said: he provided her with a gift (mattaʿahā).
5205 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, on the authority of his mother, with similar import, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf.
5206 — 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 Ibn Sīrīn, who said: they used to give the gift in the form of a servant/slave, or a monetary maintenance contribution, or clothing. He said: and al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī gave — I think he said — ten thousand as a gift.
5207 — 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 Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm: that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf divorced his wife and provided her with a servant/slave as a gift.
5208 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd al-Muqriʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Ayyūb, who said: ʿUqayl related to me, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb: that he used to say concerning the gift of the divorced woman: the highest of it is a servant/slave, and the least of it is clothing and monetary maintenance. And he held that this was according to what Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — said: "upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means."
* * *
Others said: the extent of that — when the husband and the wife differ concerning it — is equal to half the bridal gift of a woman like her, this woman being married without a stated bridal gift in his marriage contract. That is the statement of Abū Ḥanīfa and his companions.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct ruling concerning this is what Ibn ʿAbbās said, and whoever agrees with his statement: namely that what is obligatory of it for the divorced woman as a charge upon the man is according to the measure of his hardship and his ease, as Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — said: "upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means", not according to the measure of the woman. For if that were obligatory for the woman according to the measure of the bridal gift of her like, up to half of it, then His word — praised be His mention — "upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means" would have no comprehensible meaning, and the statement would read: "and provide for them a gift according to their measure and according to the measure of half the bridal gift of their likes."
And in the fact that Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — informs His servants that this is according to the measure of the man with respect to his hardship and his ease, not according to her measure and the measure of half the bridal gift of her like, there is something which makes clear the correctness of what we have said, and the untenability of what contradicts it. That is because the bridal gift of a woman like her may sometimes be a great sum, while the man at the time of his divorcing her is needy and owns nothing. If, then, an amount equal to half the bridal gift of her like is imposed upon him, he is obligated to something of which even some for whom matters are ample are incapable — how much more so for one whose livelihood is straitened? And when that is done to him, the judge who rules thus against him would have overstepped the ruling of the word of Allah — praised be His mention —: "upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means." Rather, that is according to the measure of the man's hardship and ease: it does not exceed a servant/slave or its value, if the husband is well-to-do. And if he is needy, but capable of the least that may serve as her clothing — namely three garments or the like — then that is imposed upon him. And if he is incapable of that, then it is according to the measure of his capacity. That is according to the measure of the diligence (ijtihād) of the just imam when a dispute about it is brought before him.
* * *
The people of interpretation differed concerning the interpretation of His word "and provide for them a gift": is it binding and obligatory (wujūb), or is it a recommendation (nadb)?
Some of them said: it is binding and obligatory; the gift is adjudicated as a charge upon the property of the man who divorces, just as is adjudicated against him in all the remaining debts that are obligatory upon him toward another. And they said: that is obligatory for him for every divorced woman, whichever of his women she may be.
* Mention of those who said that:
5209 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: al-Ḥasan and Abū al-ʿĀliya used to say: for every divorced woman there is a gift, whether he has entered in upon her or has not entered in upon her, and even if he had already stipulated a bridal gift for her.
5210 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus: that al-Ḥasan used to say: for every divorced woman there is a gift, also for her whom he divorced before he entered in upon her and without having stipulated anything for her.
5211 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Ayyūb related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr concerning this verse: وَلِلْمُطَلَّقَاتِ مَتَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ [Surah al-Baqara: 241] (and for the divorced women there is a gift according to what is proper, a duty upon the God-fearing), he said: for every divorced woman there is a gift according to what is proper, a duty upon the God-fearing.
5212 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, who said: I heard Saʿīd ibn Jubayr say: for every divorced woman there is a gift.
5213 — 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, who said: Abū al-ʿĀliya used to say: for every divorced woman there is a gift. And al-Ḥasan used to say: for every divorced woman there is a gift.
5214 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀmir related to us, saying: Qurra related to us, saying: al-Ḥasan was asked about a man who divorced his wife before he entered in upon her, while he had already stipulated a bridal gift for her: does she have a right to a gift? Al-Ḥasan said: yes, by Allah! Then it was said to the questioner — and that was Abū Bakr al-Hudhalī —: do you not read this verse: وَإِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُوهُنَّ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ وَقَدْ فَرَضْتُمْ لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً فَنِصْفُ مَا فَرَضْتُمْ (and if you divorce them before you have touched them, while you have already stipulated for them an obligation, then it is half of what you have stipulated)? He said: yes, by Allah!
* * *
Others said: the gift for the divorced woman as a charge upon her husband who divorces her is obligatory, but it is obligatory for every divorced woman except for the divorced woman for whom the bridal gift has been stipulated. As for the divorced woman for whom the bridal gift has been stipulated, if she is divorced before he has entered in upon her, then for her there is no gift, and she is entitled only to half of the stated bridal gift.
* Mention of those who said that:
5215 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ: that Ibn ʿUmar used to say: for every divorced woman there is a gift, except for her whom he divorced and upon whom he did not enter while he had already stipulated for her; for her there is half the bridal gift, and no gift.
5216 — Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr informed us, on the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, with similar import.
5217 — 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 Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab — concerning the man who divorces his wife while he had already stipulated for her — that he said concerning the gift: she was entitled to the gift according to the verse that is in "al-Aḥzāb"; but when the verse that is in "al-Baqara" was revealed, half of her bridal gift was determined for her when he had stated it, and she has no right to the gift; and when he had not stated it, then she does have a right to the gift.
5218 — Ibn al-Muthannā 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 Saʿīd, similarly.
5219 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab used to say: if he did not enter in upon her, the gift was determined for her in "Surah al-Aḥzāb"; then the verse that is in "Surah al-Baqara" was revealed: وَإِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُوهُنَّ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ وَقَدْ فَرَضْتُمْ لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً فَنِصْفُ مَا فَرَضْتُمْ (and if you divorce them before you have touched them, while you have already stipulated for them an obligation, then it is half of what you have stipulated), and this verse abrogated (nasakha) what was before it, when he had not entered in upon her and he had already stated a bridal gift for her; then half was determined for her, and she has no right to a gift.
5220 — Ibn al-Muthannā and Ibn Bashshār related to us, they said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, who said: this verse — يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَكَحْتُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ثُمَّ طَلَّقْتُمُوهُنَّ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ فَمَا لَكُمْ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ عِدَّةٍ تَعْتَدُّونَهَا فَمَتِّعُوهُنَّ [Surah al-Aḥzāb: 49] (O you who believe, when you marry the believing women and then divorce them before you have touched them, then you have no waiting period (ʿidda) from them to reckon; provide them then with a gift) — abrogated the verse that is in "al-Baqara".
5221 — Ibn Bashshār and Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, they said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥumayd, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: for every divorced woman there is a gift, except for her from whom he separated while he had already stipulated for her, before he entered in upon her.
5222 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — concerning her from whom her husband separates before he enters in upon her, while he had already stipulated for her — he said: for her there is no gift.
5223 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ayyūb related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, who said: when the man marries a woman and had already stipulated for her, and then divorces her before he enters in upon her, then she is entitled to half the bridal gift, and she has no right to a gift. And when he had stipulated nothing for her, then she is entitled only to the gift.
5224 — Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Najīḥ was asked, while I was listening, about the man who marries and then divorces her before he enters in upon her, while he had already stipulated for her: does she have a right to a gift? He said: ʿAṭāʾ used to say: she has no right to a gift.
5225 — 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 — concerning her for whom he had stipulated and upon whom he had not entered — he said: if she is divorced, then she is entitled to half the bridal gift and she has no right to a gift.
5226 — Muḥammad 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: that Shurayḥ used to say — concerning the man when he divorces his wife before he enters in upon her, while he had already stated a bridal gift for her — he said: she is entitled to a gift in addition to the half.
5227 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of Shurayḥ, who said: she is entitled to a gift in addition to the half.
* * *
Others said: the gift is a right for every divorced woman, except that some of it may be enforced as a charge upon the man who divorces, and some of it cannot be enforced as a charge upon him, but he is nonetheless obligated — in what is between him and Allah — to give it.
* Mention of those who said that:
5228 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, who said: there are two kinds of gifts: concerning one the ruler adjudicates, and the other is a duty upon the God-fearing. Whoever divorces before he has stipulated and has entered in, is obligated to the gift, for no bridal gift is incumbent upon him. And whoever divorces after he has entered in or has stipulated, for him the gift is a duty.
5229 — 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: Allah said: "There is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them, or stipulate for them an obligation; and provide for them a gift; upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means, a gift according to what is proper, a duty upon the doers of good." So when the man marries a woman and stipulates nothing for her, and then divorces her before he touches her and before he has stipulated for her, then nothing is incumbent upon him but a gift according to what is proper; the ruler determines an amount for her, and she has no waiting period (ʿidda). And Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — said: وَإِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُوهُنَّ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ وَقَدْ فَرَضْتُمْ لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً فَنِصْفُ مَا فَرَضْتُمْ (and if you divorce them before you have touched them, while you have already stipulated for them an obligation, then it is half of what you have stipulated); so when the man divorces the woman while he had already stipulated for her and had not touched her, then she is entitled to half her bridal gift, and no waiting period (ʿidda) is incumbent upon her.
5230 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Barqī related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Abī Salama related to us, saying: Zuhayr informed us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, that he said: there are two kinds of gifts: concerning one the ruler adjudicates, and concerning the other he does not adjudicate. The gift concerning which the ruler adjudicates is a duty upon the doers of good, and the gift concerning which the ruler does not adjudicate is a duty upon the God-fearing.
* * *
Others said: neither the judge nor the ruler adjudicates anything of it as a charge upon the man who divorces; rather it is, from Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — a recommendation (nadb) and a directive toward providing the divorced woman with a gift.
* Mention of those who said that:
5231 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam: that a man divorced his wife, and she brought a complaint against him before Shurayḥ; he recited the verse: وَلِلْمُطَلَّقَاتِ مَتَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ [Surah al-Baqara: 241] (and for the divorced women there is a gift according to what is proper, a duty upon the God-fearing), he said: if you are among the God-fearing, then the gift is incumbent upon you. And he did not rule in her favor. Shuʿba said: I found it written down with me on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā.
5232 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Muḥammad, who said: Shurayḥ used to say concerning the gift of the divorced woman: do not refuse to be among the doers of good, do not refuse to be among the God-fearing.
5233 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, that Shurayḥ said to one who had already entered in upon her: if you are among the God-fearing, then provide her with a gift.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: It is as though the adherents of this statement, in their refraining from imposing the gift for divorced women as an obligation (farḍ), relied on the fact that Allah's word — praised be His mention — "a duty upon the doers of good", and His word "a duty upon the God-fearing", is an indication that — if it were obligatory with the obligation of the binding financial rights in every condition — the God-fearing and the doers of good would not have been specifically singled out as those upon whom it is a duty, to the exclusion of others; rather, that would apply generally to every human being.
As for those who held it obligatory for everyone except the divorced woman for whom the bridal gift has been stipulated: they relied on the fact that Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — when He said: وَلِلْمُطَلَّقَاتِ مَتَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ (and for the divorced women there is a gift according to what is proper, a duty upon the God-fearing), this was an indication that for every divorced woman there is a gift, except for whom Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — has excepted in His Book or by the tongue of His Messenger ﷺ. So when He said: وَإِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُوهُنَّ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ وَقَدْ فَرَضْتُمْ لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً فَنِصْفُ مَا فَرَضْتُمْ (and if you divorce them before you have touched them, while you have already stipulated for them an obligation, then it is half of what you have stipulated), there was in this, according to them, an indication that her right is half of what has been stipulated for her, because Allah, according to them, determined the gift in the preceding verse for her for whom nothing has been stipulated. It was therefore known to them, by Allah's specific assignment of the gift to her for whom nothing has been stipulated, that her ruling is other than the ruling of her for whom it had been stipulated when he divorces her before the touching, with respect to the rights she has against the husband.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: That which, in my opinion, is most in accordance with correctness in this matter is the statement of him who said: "for every divorced woman there is a gift", because Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — said: وَلِلْمُطَلَّقَاتِ مَتَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ (and for the divorced women there is a gift according to what is proper, a duty upon the God-fearing); Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — has therefore determined that for every divorced woman, and has not excepted one of them to the exclusion of another. No one has the right to divert the outward, general purport of a revelation toward an inward, particular meaning, except on the basis of a proof to which one must submit.
* * *
If someone says: but Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — did treat the divorced woman who is divorced before the touching, when something had been stipulated for her, specially with His word: وَإِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُوهُنَّ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ وَقَدْ فَرَضْتُمْ لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً فَنِصْفُ مَا فَرَضْتُمْ (and if you divorce them before you have touched them, while you have already stipulated for them an obligation, then it is half of what you have stipulated), since He determined for her nothing other than half of the obligation?
The answer is: when Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — in one part of His revelation indicates the obligatoriness of something, then His indication of its obligatoriness suffices in the place where He indicated it, without any need for repetition, until He indicates the lapsing of its obligatoriness. And He has, with His word وَلِلْمُطَلَّقَاتِ مَتَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ (and for the divorced women there is a gift according to what is proper), indicated the obligatoriness of the gift for every divorced woman; the servants therefore have no need of its repetition in every verse and every surah. And in His indication that for the divorced woman before the touching, for whom the bridal gift has been stipulated, half of what has been stipulated for her applies, there is no indication of the lapsing of the gift for her. For it is not impossible in the language if it were said: وَإِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُوهُنَّ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ وَقَدْ فَرَضْتُمْ لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً فَنِصْفُ مَا فَرَضْتُمْ (and if you divorce them before you have touched them, while you have already stipulated for them an obligation, then it is half of what you have stipulated) — and the gift. And since that is not impossible in the language, it is known that when half of the obligation becomes obligatory for her, in its obligatoriness for her there is no negation of her right to the gift; and since the combining of both for the divorced woman is not impossible — and Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — has already indicated its obligatoriness for her, even if the indication of the obligatoriness of the one lies in a verse other than the verse in which the indication of the obligatoriness of the other lies — the obligatoriness of both for her is established and valid.
All of this holds if there were no other proof concerning the divorced woman for whom the bridal gift has been stipulated when she is divorced before the touching, than the word of Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — وَلِلْمُطَلَّقَاتِ مَتَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ (and for the divorced women there is a gift according to what is proper). How much more so, then, while in the word of Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — "there is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them, or stipulate for them an obligation; and provide for them a gift" there lies the clear indication that the woman for whom it had been stipulated, when she is divorced before the touching, is entitled to a gift equal to that of her for whom nothing had been stipulated? That is because Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — when He said: لا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ مَا لَمْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ أَوْ تَفْرِضُوا لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً (there is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them, or stipulate for them an obligation) — by this made known that He indicated the ruling of the divorce of two kinds of the divorce of women: the one is she for whom it had been stipulated, and the other is she for whom nothing had been stipulated. For when He said: أَوْ تَفْرِضُوا لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً (or stipulate for them an obligation), it was known that the other kind is she for whom it had been stipulated, and that she is the divorced woman for whom it had been stipulated, before the touching. For He said: "there is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them", and then He — the Exalted, praised be His mention — said: "and provide for them a gift", and thus He imposed the gift as obligatory upon both kinds of them together: upon her for whom it had been stipulated, and upon her for whom nothing had been stipulated. Whoever claims that this applies to one of the two kinds is asked for the proof of his claim, from a foundational principle or a comparable case, and then the reasoning is turned back against him. He will then make no statement about any portion of it, except that the same is imposed upon him in the other portion.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And I hold that the gift for the woman is an obligatory right, when she is divorced, as a charge upon her husband who divorces her — according to what we have just expounded — to which the husband is obligated just as he is obligated to her bridal gift; nothing discharges him of it but his payment of it to her, or to whoever takes her place in receiving it from him, or by a remission that she grants him. And I hold that her case is the case of her bridal gift and of her other debts charged to him: he is taken into custody on account of it if he divorces her therein, when he has no visible property that can be sold as a charge against him, if he refuses to give her that.
We have said that only because Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — said: "and provide for them a gift", and thus He commanded the men to provide them with a gift; and His command is an obligation (farḍ), unless the Exalted — praised be His mention — makes clear that by it He means recommendation (nadb) and direction, according to what we have expounded in our book entitled (Laṭīf al-bayān ʿan uṣūl al-aḥkām), on the basis of His word: وَلِلْمُطَلَّقَاتِ مَتَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ (and for the divorced women there is a gift according to what is proper). And there is no disagreement among all the people of interpretation that the meaning of this is: and for the divorced women there is, as a charge upon their husbands, a gift according to what is proper. And since that is so, the husband is not discharged of what she is owed from him, except by what we have previously described, namely payment or remission, according to what we have expounded.
* * *
If a foolish person supposes that Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — when He said: حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُحْسِنِينَ (a duty upon the doers of good) and حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ (a duty upon the God-fearing), meant that it is not obligatory — because, if it were obligatory, it would be incumbent upon the doer of good and the non-doer of good, upon the God-fearing and the non-God-fearing — then the answer is: Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — has commanded His entire creation to be among the doers of good and the God-fearing, and what has been made an obligatory right for the people of doing good and God-fearing is all the more obligatory for others than them and all the more binding upon them.
Moreover: in the agreement of the authoritative proof (ijmāʿ al-ḥujja) that the gift for the divorced woman for whom nothing has been stipulated before the touching is obligatory on the basis of His word "and provide for them a gift" — alongside the obligatoriness of half the bridal gift for the divorced woman for whom it had indeed been stipulated before the touching on the basis of Allah's word — praised be His mention — with respect to what He made obligatory for both of them — there lies the clear proof that this is an obligatory right for every divorced woman on the basis of His word وَلِلْمُطَلَّقَاتِ مَتَاعٌ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ (and for the divorced women there is a gift according to what is proper), even though He said "a duty upon the God-fearing".
And whoever denies what we have said about that is questioned concerning the gift for the divorced woman for whom nothing had been stipulated before the touching. If he denies its obligatoriness, he departs from the statement of the entire authoritative proof, and is opposed by us just as we oppose those who deny the zakāh on twenty dinars, and those who reject the zakāh on trade goods when they are designated for trade, and what resembles that. And if he holds that obligatory for her, he is asked about the distinction between its obligatoriness for her and the obligatoriness for every divorced woman, while He stipulated, in what He determined for her of it, as a condition that it is a duty upon the doers of good, just as He stipulated, in what He determined for the other, as a condition that it is a duty upon the God-fearing. He will then make no statement about either of the two, except that the same is imposed upon him in the other.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And all are agreed that the divorced woman for whom nothing had been stipulated before the touching is owed nothing as a charge upon her husband who divorces her, except the gift.
* Mention of some of the Companions (ṣaḥāba) and the Successors (tābiʿūn) — may Allah be pleased with them — who said that:
5234 — Abū Kurayb and Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, they said: Ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: when the man divorces his wife before he has stipulated for her and before he has entered in upon her, then she is entitled only to the gift.
5235 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, who said: al-Ḥasan said: if the man divorces his wife while he has not entered in upon her and has stipulated nothing for her, then she is entitled only to the gift.
5236 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ayyūb informed us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, who said: when the man marries a woman and then divorces her while he has stipulated nothing for her, then she is entitled only to the gift.
5237 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: al-Layth related to me, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of Ibn Shihāb, who said: when the man marries a woman and stipulates nothing for her, and then divorces her before he touches her and before he has stipulated for her, then she is entitled, as a charge upon him, only to the gift according to what is proper.
5238 — 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 word of Allah: لا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ مَا لَمْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ أَوْ تَفْرِضُوا لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً (there is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them, or stipulate for them an obligation), he said: she has no right to a bridal gift, only to a gift according to what is proper.
5239 — 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, with similar import — except that he said: and there is no gift but according to what is proper.
5240 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: لا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ مَا لَمْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ (there is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them) up to: "and provide for them a gift", he said: this concerns the man to whom she is given, and who then divorces her before he enters in upon her; upon him there is then only the gift.
5241 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said concerning this verse: it concerns the man who marries a woman and does not state a bridal gift for her, and then divorces her before he enters in upon her; for her there is then a gift according to what is proper, and she has no obligation.
5242 — 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, the same.
5243 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: [ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying:] I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: مَا لَمْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ أَوْ تَفْرِضُوا لَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً (as long as you have not touched them, or stipulate for them an obligation), this concerns a man to whom his wife is given, and who then divorces her before he touches her; for her there is the gift, and she has no obligation, and no waiting period (ʿidda) is incumbent upon her.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for "al-mūsiʿ" (the well-to-do): that is he whose livelihood has come to amplitude and wealth; one says of that: "awsaʿa fulān, fa-huwa yūsiʿu īsāʿan, wa-huwa mūsiʿ" (so-and-so has become well-to-do, he is well-to-do, and he is a well-to-do one).
* * *
And as for "al-muqtir" (the needy): that is he who has little means; one says: "qad aqtara, fa-huwa yuqtiru iqtāran, wa-huwa muqtir" (he has become needy, he is needy, and he is a needy one).
* * *
The reciters differed in the reading of "al-qadr".
Some of them recite it: "ʿalā al-mūsiʿi qadaru-hu wa-ʿalā al-muqtiri qadaru-hu", with the movement of the "dāl" to the fatḥa of "al-qadar", by which they take it as the noun of "al-taqdīr", which is derived from the expression of one who says: "qaddara fulān hādhā al-amr" (so-and-so estimated this matter).
* * *
Others recite it with sukūn on its "dāl", by which they take it as its maṣdar (verbal noun), as the poet said:
"And it was not — that my foot was set in the iron of Mujāshiʿ together with the [shackle] (al-qadr) — anything but a need of mine that I desired"
* * *
My ruling concerning this is that they are both two readings that the community (umma) has transmitted, and that reading with the one does not make the meaning in the other impossible; rather, they agree in meaning. With whichever of the two readings the reciter recites it, he attains what is correct. The preference of some readings over others is permissible only by virtue of the preferred reading being distinguished from the other by an additional meaning that lends it correctness to the exclusion of the other. But when the meanings agree in all the readings, then there is no ground to judge that some of them are more fitting to recite with than the others.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The interpretation of the verse is then: there is no objection upon you, O people, because you have divorced the women while you had stipulated for them, as long as you have not touched them; and if you divorce them while you have not touched them, before you have stipulated for them; and provide all of them with a gift — as for him among you who has amplitude and wealth, from his gift then, according to the measure of his wealth and amplitude; and as for him among you who has need and poverty, from his gift then, according to the measure of his capacity and his need.
* * *
The ruling on the interpretation of His word — the Exalted: مَتَاعًا بِالْمَعْرُوفِ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُحْسِنِينَ (236) (a gift according to what is proper, a duty upon the doers of good)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — praised be His mention — means by it: and provide for them a gift (matāʿan). It is also possible that "matāʿan" is in the accusative as a detachment (qaṭʿ) from "al-qadr", because "al-matāʿ" is indefinite (nakira) and "al-qadr" is definite (maʿrifa).
* * *
And He means by His word "according to what is proper" (bi-l-maʿrūf): according to what Allah has commanded you with respect to your giving that to them, without injustice and without your withholding it from them with reluctance.
And He means by His word "a duty upon the doers of good" (ḥaqqan ʿalā al-muḥsinīn): a gift according to what is proper, which is a duty upon the doers of good. And since the insertion of the "alif" and the "lām" indicated "al-ḥaqq" — and that is of the quality of "al-maʿrūf", while "al-maʿrūf" is definite and "al-ḥaqq" is indefinite — it is in the accusative as a detachment from it, as one says: "atānī al-rajul rākiban" (the man came to me, riding).
* * *
It is also possible that it is in the accusative as a maṣdar of the entire preceding statement, as the statement of one who says: "ʿAbd Allāh ʿālim ḥaqqan" (ʿAbd Allāh is truly a scholar); "al-ḥaqq" is then in the accusative from the intended statement of the speaker, as though he said: I inform you of that truly.
But the first interpretation is the most obvious purport of the statement, because the meaning of the statement is: provide for them then a gift according to a proper, true right, which is incumbent upon every one of you who is a doer of good.
* * *
Some claimed that it is in the accusative with the meaning: "He confirmed that as a right" (aḥaqqa dhālika ḥaqqan). But what he said about that contradicts what the outward purport of the recitation indicates. For Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — made the gift for the divorced women into a right for them as a charge upon their husbands; and the adherent of this statement claims that the meaning of it is that Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — informs about Himself that He imposes that as a duty upon the doers of good. The interpretation of the statement is then — when the matter is so —: and provide for them a gift, upon the well-to-do is according to his means, and upon the needy according to his means, a gift according to what is proper which is obligatory upon the doers of good.
* * *
And He means by His word "the doers of good" (al-muḥsinīn): those who do good to themselves in hastening to obedience to Allah in what He has imposed upon them, and in their fulfillment of what He has charged them with of obligations.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone says: you have mentioned that "al-junāḥ" is the objection (al-ḥaraj), and Allah the Exalted — praised be His mention — has said: لا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ طَلَّقْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ مَا لَمْ تَمَسُّوهُنَّ (there is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them); is there then any sin upon us if we were to divorce them after the touching, such that it is removed from us by our divorcing them before the touching?
The answer is: it has been related from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said: "Indeed, Allah does not love the male tasters (al-dhawwāqīn), nor the female tasters (al-dhawwāqāt)."
5244 — That was related to us by Ibn Bashshār, 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 Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ.
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And it has been related from him ﷺ that he said: "What is the matter with groups of people who play with the limits (ḥudūd) of Allah, and say: I have divorced you, I have taken you back, I have divorced you."
5245 — That was related to us by Ibn Bashshār, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū Burda, on the authority of his father, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
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It is therefore possible that "al-junāḥ" (the sin) that is removed from the people upon their divorcing their women before the touching is that which would befall them after they had tasted them, as has been related from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
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And some used to say: the meaning of His word in this place لا جُنَاحَ (there is no sin) is: there is no claim on account of the women upon you — if you divorce them before you have touched them and you have stipulated no obligation for them — with respect to demanding from you a bridal gift or maintenance. And that is an acceptable interpretation, were it not for what I have described, namely that by the divorce before the touching in this verse two kinds of women are meant: the one is she for whom it had been stipulated, and the other she for whom nothing had been stipulated. And since that is so, there is no ground to say: they have no claim against you to a bridal gift, when the matter is as we have described.
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And it also bears yet another interpretation: namely that the meaning of it is: there is no sin upon you if you divorce women as long as you have not touched them, at whatever time you wish to divorce them. For there exists no prescribed manner (sunna) in their divorce; the man may divorce them — when he has not touched them — at any time he chooses, whether they are menstruating or pure. But that is not so for the woman upon whom he has entered and who has been touched, for her husband may not divorce her — if she is among those who have menstrual cycles (aqrāʾ) — except according to the waiting period (ʿidda), in a state of purity, in a period of purity during which he has had no intercourse with her. Thus "al-junāḥ" (the sin) that is lifted for the one who divorces her whom he has not touched during her menstruation is that "junāḥ" which would befall the one who divorces after entering in upon her, if he divorces her during her menstruation, or in a period of purity during which he has had intercourse with her.
