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English translation
3485. Ibn 'Abbâs said: "One morning, we saw the wives of the Prophet ﷺ weeping, and each one of them had her family with her. I entered the Masjid and found it filled with people. Then 'Umar, may Allâh be pleased with him, came, and went to the Prophet ﷺ who was in his room. He greeted him with the Salâm but no one answered. He greeted him again but no one answered. He greeted him (a third time) but no one answered. So he went back and called out: 'Bilâll!' He came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: 'Have you divorced your wives?' He said: 'No, but I have sworn an oath of abstinence from them for a month.' So he stayed away from them for twenty-nine days, then he came and went into his wives." (Šaĥīh)
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Commentary
1. Ilâ' in its literal sense signifies to vow, but here it means swearing to abstain from intercourse with one's wife. If the husband is angry with his wife and swears in this manner, he may only maintain the vow for four months. On expiration of the duration of four months, he must either copulate with his wife, breaking the oath and pay the expiation for the oath, or he will be obliged to divorce her. If he denies both these things, the current ruler (or a magistrate, etc.) would bring into effect the divorce, using their own authority. Thus the wife would become separated from her husband. Allâh's Messenger ﷺ had sworn off of his wives for one month only, and he fulfilled it.
2. 'They (the Prophet's ﷺ wives) were weeping': It had occurred to them that perhaps taking such a vow equals a divorce, or they were weeping because of the Prophet's ﷺ displeasure and separation.
3. 'No one answered' means permission to enter was not given. They might have returned the greeting in a low voice.
4. 'Twenty-nine days' because a month could consist of twenty-nine days as well as thirty days. The Divine law has ruled twenty-nine days as a full month. Hence, if the vow is for one month, upon the expiration of twenty-nine days, the vow would be fulfilled, for whatever objective it might have been.
