Counting less than the required days may adversely affect...

Counting less than the required days may adversely affect the bounds of wedlock through failure to attend to the congelation of semen in the womb. The imperative verbal form ahsu ("count"), deriving from the root h-s-y, is cognate with hasa ("pebble"), since it was common among ancient illiterate peoples to keep records of different things by counting with pebbles.

It is worthy of note, however, that men are herein addressed as those responsible for counting the waiting period, since they are responsible for providing women with alimony and accommodation expenses. The right to the revocation of divorce and remarriage is also vested with men, though women are also obliged to keep a precise record of their waiting periods.

The blessed Verse proceeds to call all people to the fear of God Almighty, the Lord and Fosterer of all the world of existence whose Injunctions guarantees happiness. Thus, it is incumbent upon mankind to act upon His Injunctions and refrain from disobedience to His Commands. In this respect, particular attention is to be accorded to giving divorce and counting the days of the waiting period.

The third and the fourth Injunctions concern the husbands and the wives respectively, saying: "Do not drive them out of their homes and they, i.e., the women, are not supposed to leave their homes during the waiting period.” It is worthy of note, however, that many ignorant people do not act upon such Injunction and upon uttering the divorce formula such ignorant men drive the women out of their homes and women imagine that they are free to return to their relatives’ homes.

Nonetheless, such Islamic ruling embodies a very significant point since besides paying respect to women, the ruling paves the way for the husband to revoke the divorce and strengthen the bonds of matrimony. Failure to accord attention to such Islamic ruling which is attested in the Holy Qur’an leads many a matrimony to lead in permanent break up, though if the ruling were acted upon, it would entail settlement.

However, under certain circumstances women may not at times stay at their homes, as a consequence of which, the fifth Injunction, serving as an exception to the rule, is mentioned as per which women are obliged to refrain from committing open evil acts, e.g. mistreatment and slandering their husbands and their in-laws leading to further problems at home.