Select a passage to highlight it. Click or tap a highlight to remove it.
Text and translation
English translation
3579. It was narrated that Fâtimah bint Qais said: "My husband divorced me and I wanted to move, so I went to the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ and he said: 'Move to the house of your paternal cousin 'Amr bin Umm Maktûm, and observe your Iddah there.'" Al-Aswad hit him (Ash-Sha'bi) with a pebble and said: "Woe be to you! Why do you issue such a Fatwa?' Umar said: 'If you bring two witnesses who will testify that they heard that from the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ (we will believe you), otherwise, we will not leave the Book of Allâh for the word of a woman.' And turn them not out of their (husband's) homes nor shall they (themselves) leave, except in case they are guilty of
some open Fâhishah.”[1] (Ṣaḥīḥ)
Your commentary saves automatically in this browser, separate from the published commentary. It stays private unless you include it in a shared study file.
Commentary
تخرج [صحيح] تقدم، ح ٣٤٣٢، وهو في الكبرى، ح ٥٧٤٣.
1. It has previously been pointed out that numerous Companions of the Prophet ﷺ did not acknowledge the apparent result of this narration (that the lodging and maintenance of an irrevocably divorced woman are not incumbent upon the husband). They consider this incident as specific to Fatimah bint Qais, which means there must have been some distinct reason. (See the details in Hadīth 3224). Fatimah bint Qais used to say, in response to this Verse, that the description here pertains to those divorces in which ‘returning’ is possible. It transpires from “after that Allāh may well cause something new to come about.” In the upcoming words “when an irrevocably divorced woman cannot be taken back,” is asked what is the good in her residing in the (husband’s) house? There are rather numerous perils in it.
2. ‘Umar ﷺ did not consider it essential that for each Hadīth, two witnesses be produced, and only then it shall be accepted. On the contrary, he considered this narration contrary to what he was certain of. That is why he stated like this. Otherwise on numerous occasions, one man’s narration has been acknowledged and acted upon. For instance, narrations concerning levying the protection tax from a Magian and about exiting a plague-stricken province.
