ভূমিকা

Commentary: One of the methods that was customary in the Age of Ignorance for the separation of a husband from his wife was /'ila'/ ' forswear '. This method was also followed by those Muslims who had newly embraced Islam. The word means: ' oath of sexual abstention '. At the Age of Ignorance, when a man displeased his wife, he sometimes took oath to abstain from associating with her, and by this unmanly way, he created a straitened circumstance for her.

He neither divorced her legally to make her free to marry with her desired husband and obtain her own wishes, nor he himself was ready to make peace with her and continue to live with her as a spouse. " For those who swear to abstain from their wives, ..." So, the verse under discussion speaks about the design that Islam has planned for that problem to put an end to it. It says that husband has a respite of four months to make the woman free from this captivity and entanglement.

He may either renounce his oath, and continue to live with his wife, or legally divorces her and lets her be free. "...there shall be a waiting of four months; ..." Choosing the first way, and not to disturb the assembly of the family, is undoubtedly reasonable and also pleases Allah.

Therefore, at the end of the verse, it says: "...so if then they revert, surely Allah is Fogiving, Merciful." 212 The concluding sentence: "...surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful" denotes that renouncing this oath will not be counted a sin, (though it is understood from the statement that the essence of taking oath is not an agreeable action) .

* * * * If the man decides to become separate from her and divorces her, forgiveness and mercy is not assured for his action, and Allah, Who is aware of all secrets, knows whether his sensuality has forced the husband to misuse the law of divorce, or his situation and conditions have really required that.