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Text and translation
English translation
1192. Hishām bin 'Urwah narrated from his father, from 'Aishah that she said: "The people were such that a man would divorce his wife when he wanted to divorce her, and she remained his wife when he wanted to take her back while she was in her 'Iddah, and he could divorce a hundred times, or even more, such that a man could say to his wife: 'By Allāh! I will neither divorce you irrevocably, nor give you residence ever!' She would say: 'And how is that?' He would say: 'I will divorce you, and whenever your 'Iddah is just about to end I will take you back. So a woman went to 'Aishah to inform her about that, and 'Aishah was silent until the Prophet ﷺ came. So she told him and the Prophet ﷺ was silent, until the Qur'ān was revealed: Divorce is two times, after that, retain her on reasonable terms or release her with kindness.'"[1] So 'Aishah said: "So the people could carry on with divorce in the future, (knowing) who was divorced, and who was not divorced." (Hasan)
(Another chain) from Hishām bin 'Urwah from his father and it is similar to this Hadīth in meaning, but he did not mention in it: "From 'Aishah."
(Abū 'Eisā said:) This is more
correct than the (previous) narration of Ya'lā bin Shabib.
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Footnotes
1
[1] Al-Baqarah 2:229.
Commentary
In the period of Jahiliyyah people used to divorce their wives, and before the expiry of the probationary period (Iddah) they would take them back. There was no limit to this way of conduct. The husband could divorce his wife as many times as he wanted and take them back within the expiry of Iddah and she would remain his wife. Islamic Divine Law (Shari'ah) imposed a limit to it. "Divorce is two times, after that retain her on reasonable terms of release her with kindness." According to Shah Waliullah excessive use of the right of divorce and giving little importance to its consequences causes many evils and miseries in the society.
