461. Imam Ahmad has reported Anas (ra) as saying that the Jews segregated their women during their monthly courses to the extent of denying them company on the dining table. The Ansar, influenced by them, treated them similarly. The Prophet was asked about it and Allah (swt) revealed this verse, to which the Prophet added: "Everything is permissible save intercourse." When the Jews heard about it they remarked: "This man seems to be bent on opposing us in everything that we do." When Usayd b. Hudayr, and `Abbad b. Bishr (ra) heard this remark they said to the Prophet: "(If the Jews say so) why should we not allow intercourse also (during the periods, in order to provoke them to greater frustration)?" At this the Prophet was so angry with the two that they were afraid he would order them punished. So they went out and brought in some milk as gift. (When they had left) he sent a man behind them to call them back and made them drink the milk so that they would know that he was not angry with them (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

`A'isha (ra) herself reports that while she was in her periods, the Prophet would rest on her back and read the Qur'an. During those days he would drink from the same bowl and sleep with her in the same bed (Ibn Kathir).

In contrast, note the injunctions of the Bible as quoted by Majid: "She shall be put apart seven days. And whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. And everything that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean; everything also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. And whosever toucheth her shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even" (Le. 15:19 21)."

Majid also quotes the opinion of medical men: "Even in a perfectly healthy woman this (menstruation: au) affects the whole organism to a more or less marked degree...There is increased nervous tension and greater muscular excitability; reflex action is more marked and there may be slight twitching of the legs; also yawning and stiffness in the neck, and sleep is heavier than usual. There is loss of appetite and a certain amount of digestive and intestinal disturbance with a tendency to flatulence" (Havelock Ellis, Man and Woman, pp.289 290)." And: "During menstruation, a woman is exceptionally sensitive and irritable, so that she may be greatly excited by trifling matters which at other times would arouse no obvious response...The statistics of criminality in women show that a very large majority of crimes committed by women are committed during menstruation" (Bauer, Woman and Love, pp. 283 284)."

Sabuni adds: With reference to the words, "Wa la taqrabuhunna," a linguistic point may be noted. When it is said "la taqrab" it means, as Shashi has pointed out, "do not do a thing." But when you say "la taqrib" then you mean to say "do not go near it." Therefore, here it means, "do not go into your women" (Rawae`).

Legal Points

1. The maximum length of a menstrual cycle is, according to the Shafe`iyyah, Hanabilah and Malikiyyah, 15 days. According to the Hanafiyyah it is 10 days. If the discharge continues beyond these periods, then the woman is in the state of "istihada" during which she is required to resume her Prayers and fast (Al Arba`ah). The main difference between the two discharges is in color and density former is dark red (bluish, or of the color of the soil: Thanwi) and thick, while the latter of the same color as blood, but thinner (Razi and Al Arba`ah).

2. Sexual intercourse is allowed during istihada (Razi).

3. In individuals whose normal period is well known, anything lasting more is "istihada" (Thanwi in Bahishti Zewar).

4. It is 24 hours after the cessation of discharge of the menstrual cycle that a woman is in the state of purity and hence liable to Pray, fast, etc. A grand ablution is necessary (Al Arba`ah). According to the Hanafiyyah, however, the time allowed is the time between one Prayer and the next. After the lapse of that time she should bathe herself and start praying (Bahishti Zewar).

5. Can a woman recite the Qur'an during her menstrual cycle? The answer given by the four fuqaha' is that she cannot. She could as such quote or read a part of a Qur'anic verse, but not recite the Qur'an or even handle it (just like a man cannot do it in a state of major uncleanliness). She can however, read Hadith literature (Au.).

6. During this period she may not offer Prayers, observe fasts, enter a mosque or touch the Qur'an. However, fasts have to be observed later, while Prayers are forgiven (Al Arba`ah).

7. According to most jurists a woman must bathe herself after the periods before intercourse (Ibn Kathir). However, according to the Hanafiyy school cessation of blood is enough, although a bath is recommended and intercourse is undesirable before it (Qurtubi).

8. The discharge before and after the birth of a child is known as "nifas." Its maximum period ranges from 40 to 60 days depending on various schools of fiqh. The minimum is the cessation of discharge. The rules of Prayers, fasts etc. are the same as with menstrual cycles (Al Arba`ah).

9. Someone who loses control and has intercourse with his wife during her periods, commits, according to the majority of scholars, a sin for which he must seek Allah's forgiveness, but no expiation has been prescribed (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir).

462. The original words: "min haythu amara kumullah" lend various meanings (Razi). That expressed in the translation implies that one might go into his women from whatever direction it pleases him: the front or the rear, from the sides, lying down, sitting or standing (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi), from above or below (Thanwi). It is said that the Ansar were under the influence of the Jews who held the belief that coitus from the rear (in the vagina) produced squint eyed children. The Makkans, however, believed in no such restriction. So when some of them migrated to Madinah and married Ansari women, their wives protested at their liberty and complained to the Prophet. This verse was revealed to remove the taboo.

It might also be noted in this connection that anal sex is strictly prohibited. According to several ahadith (of various strength), Allah will not look at the man who molested his wife that way. In some reports he is called "the accursed one." As for the reports that have come from Ibn `Umar that he saw no sin in it, they are all untrustworthy. On various occasions he denied having ever uttered such a thing. The same is true of Imam Shafe`i, to whom reports of its lawfulness are attributed but against which his stand has been made clear in no less than six books (Ibn Kathir, condensed).

463. Majid writes: "Compare and contrast the Christian aversion to bathing and personal ablutions. `Jerome warns ascetics against warm baths as morally enervating, and in a letter to one of his female disciples denounces every sort of bathing for women. Augustine allows a bath once a month only' (DCA, II, p. 939)."

464. That is, in the vagina (Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, `Ikrimah Ibn Kathir).

465. There are at least two other interpretations to the textual words wa qaddimu li anfusikum: (1) Seek children, (2) Pronounce Allah's name before intercourse. The latter practice, according to a hadith, will bring children free of Satanic influences (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir and others).

Majid adds: "A powerful reminder that moral and spiritual ends are not to be lost sight of even in the height of carnal pleasures."

466. That is, if you have by any chance vowed that you will not do a thing, while doing it is an act of welfare, or piety, or will make peace between people, then you ought not to be hindered by the oath. Rather, break it and go ahead and do those things. A good deed cannot be abandoned in the name of God!

The Prophet (saws) is reported to have said in a hadith of the Sahihayn: إِنِّي وَاللَّهِ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَا أَحْلِفُ عَلَى يَمِينٍ فَأَرَى غَيْرَهَا خَيْرًا مِنْهَا إِلَّا أَتَيْتُ الَّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ وَتَحَلَّلْتُهَا.‏ "By Allah, and by His Will, I do not swear against doing athing, but do it if I find that doing it would be better, and break my oath." In another hadith of the same sources he told Abdul Rahman ibn Samurah: "يَا عَبْدَ الرّحْمَنِ بْنَ سَمُرَةَ لاَ تَسْأَلِ الإِمَارَةَ، فَإِنّكَ إنْ أُعْطِيتَهَا عَنْ مَسْأَلَةٍ وُكِلَتْ إلَيْهَا، وَإنْ أُعْطِيتَهَا عَنْ غَيْرِ مَسْأَلَةٍ أُعِنْتَ عَلَيْهَا، وَإذَا حَلَفْتَ عَلَىَ يَمِينٍ فَرَأَيْتَ غَيْرَهَا خَيْراً مِنْهَا فَكَفّرْ عَنْ يَمِينِكَ، وَائْتِ الّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ". "O Abdul Rahman ibn Samurah! Do not ask to be entrusted with a state authority (imarah), for if it is imposed on you while you are undesirous of it, you will be helped (by Allah). But if you seek it and are given then you will be left to yourself to manage it. Further, when you have vowed a thing, but find something else better than what you have sworn against, then go ahead and break your oath, do that thing and then atone for it" (Ibn Kathir).

467. That is, those words of oath that people utter without meaning them such as: "No, by God, yes by God," etc. These are not oaths, and there is no expiation for breaking them. It may also apply to those things about which one believes that he is right (and so swears on it), but is proven wrong later. (There is no expiation for them also: Au.). Expiation is prescribed for those deeds about which a man makes a firm intention (`A'isha, Ibn `Abbas and others: Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir).

Though written in a different context, the following lines from "Islam Between East and West" by the Bosnian President (1996) Alija Izetbegovic, are worth reproducing: "All men believe in the soul and act accordingly, even if they do not speak up. If somebody has committed a murder and admits it, but insists that he did it unintentionally, what follows then with the prosecutor, the defense, the witnesses, the experts and the court? Why do they deliver learned speeches, analyze every detail and so on, when the very deed has been admitted to and its consequences are evident. All their efforts are not concerned with external objective facts, but with an inner problem: that of intention. It is not a question of what really happened, but what happened in the heart of the murderer. Moreover, everyone involved in the case spontaneously believes that the intention is more important than the consequence. That means that everyone, maybe unconsciously, prefers the soul to the facts. A worker who, unintentionally, causes a mine disaster in which hundreds of miners are killed, will be less responsible and less punished, than a man who kills an old woman in order to rob her. ... Man's judgment tries to imitate God's judgment" (p. 244)."

468. One way in which people impressed on their recalcitrant wives that things had come to a serious pass, was to swear that they would not go into them. In the Islamic terminology this is known as "'ila'". However, in pre Islamic times this was often misused and employed as a tool for oppression. Men used to forswear and stay away from their wives for endless periods causing them psychological and physical suffering. This verse was meant to correct the situation (Au.).

'Ila' Rules

Someone who has vowed that he will not go into his wife has four months to decide on his future course. Either he reconciles himself with her (in which case he offers expiation for the oath: Sabuni), or says good bye to her and divorces her. (According to the Hanafiyyah, divorce automatically takes effect with the lapse of four months: Sabuni. According to others, it does not: Au.). If he does not decide upon either of the two courses, the woman can apply to the courts for separation. A simple but sure way of expressing reconciliation is to resume the conjugal relationship. Hence Allah (swt) said: "If they reconcile", wherein "reconciliation" (faa'u of the original) refers to sexual intercourse: Ibn `Abbas, Masruq, Sha`bi, Sa`id b. Jubayr and others. However, in cases where that is not possible, verbal reconciliation should suffice: Ibrahim Nakha`i, Zuhri, `Alqamah, Abu Hanifa, and others (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir) .

Commentators generally quote the following incident to emphasize that the four months period that this verse has allowed as the maximum period that a man can be allowed to abstain from his wife is in keeping with the biological requirement of a woman. It is said that once when `Umar ibn al Khattab (ra), was patrolling the town of Madinah in his usual night rounds he heard the following lines from a woman whose husband was at the frontiers in jihad:

The night has prolonged, its fringes have darkened,

O miserable me without my sweetheart to play with.

By God! But for Allah's fear,

Pedestals of this couch would be quivering.

`Umar (ra) inquired his daughter Hafsa (ra) as to how long a woman can manage without her husband. She said: "Four months." So `Umar stipulated four months as the longest period a man could be kept away from his wife (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir, Sayyid Qutb).

469. The statement, "If they reconcile", implies that to get married (and raise a family) is not against zuhud (Thanwi).

470. "Allah is All forgiving, All merciful," and so He will not take to task for those of the conjugal rights of the woman that were neglected because of the oath (Ibn Kathir).

471. The word "talaq" usually translated as "divorce" means, in its root, "freedom", and "tallaqa" would mean "He freed (in this case, the woman that was bound to him)." It is, however, as a hadith says, the most hateful of the permissible things in the sight of Allah (Qurtubi).

Divorce

Majid writes: "The course of divorce, ... among ancient nations has been erratic, some making it too loose, others making it too tight...The Jewish law allows it as a matter of no great concern. 'If husband finds some uncleanness in her, then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.' (Dt. 24: 1,2) Christianity, on the other hand, ... has interdicted divorce altogether. The Catholics hold: `When the sacrament of matrimony has been received by a man and a woman and ratified by their cohabitation as husband and wife, their union cannot be dissolved except by death.' (CD. p. 41) ... The Protestants allow no doubt, but only on grounds ... of fornication. Islam has steered its course midway between the two, avoiding the extremes of either making divorce too rigid or banning it altogether, or of making it too loose and frivolous. Islam has adopted the only wise course open that of imposing certain conditions and limitations upon the right of the husband to dissolve the matrimonial bond, the object of which is `to ensure that the husband was not acting in haste or anger and that the separation becomes inevitable in the interests of the husband and the wife and the children' (Abdur Rahim, op. cit, p. 336)."

472. The word in the original is "quru': sing. "qar'", which is primarily used for a "period of time", but also for the state of impurity of a woman (hayd), as well as for that of her purity (tuhur). Hence there is difference of opinion between the scholars whether here the reference is to the period of monthly cycle or the period of purity between one monthly cycle and next (Ibn Kathir).

473. It could either refer to pregnancy or to their menstrual period (Ibn `Abbas, Ibn Umar, Sha`bi and others). Further, the phrase "If they believe in Allah and the Last Day" had to be added because these are things that only women know about themselves. There is no way for another person to verify (Ibn Kathir).

Asad says: "The primary purpose of this waiting period is the ascertainment of possible pregnancy, and thus of the parentage of the as yet unborn child. In addition, the couple are to be given an opportunity to reconsider their decision and possibly to resume the marriage."

474. When a man having consummated his marriage divorces his wife for the first time, the "talaq" is technically known as the "talaq al raja`i" (the revocable divorce). With such a divorce the woman has to wait for three periods (quru`), during which she can share the same apartment with him, after which she can remarry. However, this waiting time, known as "`iddah" gives the husband the opportunity to reconsider his decision. If he feels that it was a hasty step he can revoke the divorce (either by express words or conduct: Abdur Rahim Majid), and continue to live with her as before without a remarriage. But if he does not i.e., within the "`iddah" but wants to remarry her, after the lapse of the period, he can still do it, provided of course, she is willing, and obviously, on new terms of marriage, such as, for instance, a new "mahar" (dower) Au.

475. The Prophet (saws) has further enlightened us on the subject through various statements. For instance, at the time of his Hajj he said: فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ فِى النِّسَاءِ فَإِنَّكُمْ أَخَذْتُمُوهُنَّ بِأَمَانِ اللَّهِ وَاسْتَحْلَلْتُمْ فُرُوجَهُنَّ بِكَلِمَةِ اللَّهِ وَلَكُمْ عَلَيْهِنَّ أَنْ لاَ يُوطِئْنَ فُرُشَكُمْ أَحَدًا تَكْرَهُونَهُ. فَإِنْ فَعَلْنَ ذَلِكَ فَاضْرِبُوهُنَّ ضَرْبًا غَيْرَ مُبَرِّحٍ وَلَهُنَّ عَلَيْكُمْ رِزْقُهُنَّ وَكِسْوَتُهُنَّ - صحيح مسلم "Fear Allah (swt) in matters involving women. You have made them lawful unto yourself by an oath and a promise given to Allah. It is your right that they should not allow someone you do not approve to enter your house in your absence. If they do that, you may beat them, but without injury. As for their rights, it is that they should be fed and clothed in a goodly manner." [Explaining "you may beat them," Ibn `Abbas said: "With your tooth stick (miswak): Au.]": According to another hadith the Prophet (saws) was asked: "What are the rights of our women, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied: وفي حديث عن معاوية بن حيدة القشيري عن أبيه عن جده أنه قال: يا رسول اللّه ما حق زوجة أحدنا؟ قال: "أن تطعمها إذا طعمت، وتكسوها إذا اكتسيت، ولا تضرب الوجه، ولا تقبّح ولا تهجر إلا في البيت ".

"That you should feed them and clothe them as you will yourself, not hit them in their faces, not insult them, and not abandon them save within the four walls of the house." Ibn `Abbas (ra) used to say: "I like to present myself to my wife as neat and clean as I like that she should present herself to me in a pleasant form. This is following Allah's injunction: 'And they (women) have the same (rights upon men) as (the men have their rights) upon them'" (Ibn Kathir). Her rights also include that if the husband is unable to satisfy her in the bed, he should seek medical help (Qurtubi). It is also her right that the man should not climax before the woman does (Alusi).

However, it must be understood that each has his or her rights and obligations that suit him or her. If, for instance, a woman cooks food and washes linen, it does not mean that in return the husband should cook food and wash linen for her. Rather, it is the case of one right against another (Zamakhshari).

Women's Position in the Old World

Comparing the treatment of women by other religions with that of Islam, Majid says: "This bold and explicit declaration of the right of women centuries and centuries before a Mill dreamt of writing on the `Subjection of Women,' has no parallel in the pages of another Divine Scriptures. Contrast with this the attitude of the Bible which as a punishment of the sin of Eve makes wife a subject to her husband who is to rule over her. `According to the Old Testament, woman is responsible for the fall of man, and this became the cornerstone of Christian teaching...It is a remarkable fact that the Gospel (barring divorce, Matt. 19:9) contains not a word in favour of woman...The epistles of St. Paul definitely insist that no change can be permitted in the position of women...St. Jerome has aught but good to say to woman. "Woman is the gate of the devil, the road of evil, the sting of the scorpion." Canon law declares: "Man only is created in the image of God, not woman: therefore woman shall serve him and be his handmaid." The Provincial Council of Mocon (sixth century) seriously discussed the question `whether woman has a soul at all.' (Kraft Ebing, Psychopathia Sexualis, p.4 n. 12th Ed.) The effect of the teachings of the Jewish Rabbis and Christian fathers was that in the course of history `woman was represented as the door of hell, as the mother of all human ills. She should be ashamed at the very thought that she is a woman' (Lecky, History of European Morals, II. p. 142)."

476. What exactly is the meaning of the words: "And men have a degree above them?" Some scholars (Mujahid, Qatadah) have said that the words refer to the natural advantages that men enjoy over women such as they do not miss their Prayers because of menstrual cycle, can participate in jihad, which is not obligatory on women, etc. (Granted the meaning usually taken, [Kashshaf and Baydawi: "men have an edge over women in rights Majid], it only points to the added responsibility of men and not to their superiority, in the light of the Qur'anic dictum, "the most honorable among you in the sight of your Lord is the most fearful of Him": Sabuni) However, Ibn `Abbas has said that it is the fulfillment of marital obligations on the part of men, and observation of patience and grace in the face of ill behavior by their wives which is the demand of the statement: "And men have a degree above them" (Ibn Jarir).

That men are superior to women cannot be derived either from this verse or from another (4: 34): "Men are the managers of the affairs of women" However, complete freedom to women has also proved disastrous (Ma`arif).

Majid adds: "Man, perhaps even down to the protein molecules of his tissue cells is biologically different from woman ... The revolutionary principles collide with the very important circumstances, namely the biological inequality of the sexes. We must recognize the unquestionable existence of the biological inequality of the sexes. It goes deeper and is of fare greater import than it would appear to those not familiar with natural sciences' (Nemilov, Biological Tragedy of Woman, pp. 75 78)."