Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: Some men asked the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) for permission to hit women (i.e., their wives), so the Prophet (peace be upon him) granted them permission. Those people beat their wives. During the night, the Prophet (peace be upon him) heard loud voices. He inquired: What is the reason for this? People informed him: You gave men permission to beat women, so those men beat the women (because of which the women started crying and this is the sound). So the Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade the men from this and he (peace be upon him) said: "The best among you is the one who is best to his wife, and I am the best among you to my wives."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: For a long time, I wished to ask Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) about those two women from among the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding whom Allah Almighty said: "If you both turn in repentance to Allah (it will be better for you), for your hearts have deviated." (Ibn Abbas says:) Until Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) went for Hajj, and I also went with him for Hajj. He (went aside to relieve himself), and I also went aside with a vessel. He relieved himself, then he came, and I poured water from the vessel over his hands, and he performed ablution. I said: O Commander of the Faithful! Who were those two women from among the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding whom Allah Almighty said: "If you both turn in repentance to Allah (it will be better for you), for your hearts have deviated." Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Ibn Abbas, I am surprised at you (that you did not ask about this earlier). They were Hafsa and Aisha. Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated the whole incident. He said: I and a neighbor of mine from Banu Umayyah bin Zaid (the narrator says: Banu Umayyah bin Zaid lived in the outskirts of Madinah) used to take turns to visit the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). One day he would go, and one day I would go. When I would visit the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), I would bring back the news of that day, whether it was related to revelation or other matters, and when he would visit the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he would do the same. We, the people of Quraysh, used to have authority over our wives. When we came to the Ansar, we found that their wives had authority over them, so our women began to learn this behavior from the women of the Ansar. One day, I expressed anger at my wife, and she replied back to me. I expressed anger at her for replying, and she said: I replied to you, so why are you angry? By Allah! The wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also reply to him, and among them is one noble wife who remains angry with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from morning till evening. (Sayyiduna Umar says:) This frightened me, and I said: Whoever among the wives does this will be ruined. Then I wrapped my cloak and (came to Madinah) and went to Hafsa bint Umar. I said to her: O Hafsa, does any one of you (i.e., the noble wives) get angry with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and remain angry with him all day? Lady Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her) replied: Yes. I said: She will be disgraced and ruined. Do you consider yourselves safe from the wrath of Allah if He becomes angry with you because of the anger of His Messenger and destroys you? Do not object to anything the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says. Do not reply to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Do not keep away from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Whatever needs you have, ask me for them. And do not be deceived by the fact that your neighbor (i.e., Lady Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her) is more beautiful and more beloved to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) than you. (The narrator says) By neighbor, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) meant Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: In those days, we were discussing that the people of the Ghassan tribe were preparing for war against us. On his turn, my Ansari neighbor (came to Madinah). When he returned in the evening, he knocked hard at my door. I was alarmed and went out to him. He said: A great event has occurred. I asked: What happened? Have the Ghassan (tribe) come? He replied: No, something even greater and more significant has happened. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has divorced his wives. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I said: Hafsa is ruined and lost. I had a feeling that this would happen one day. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I wrapped my cloak and performed the Fajr prayer behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). (After the prayer) the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went to his upper room where he was staying in seclusion. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I went to Hafsa, and she was weeping. I asked: Why are you weeping? Did I not try to warn you about this? Has the Messenger of Allah divorced you? Lady Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her) replied: I do not know. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is in the upper room in seclusion. (Sayyiduna Umar says: I left Lady Hafsa's house and) came near the pulpit. There were some people around the pulpit, and they were weeping. I sat with them for a while, then my anxiety overcame me, so I went to the upper room where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was. I said to the black boy: Ask permission for Umar to enter. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: The boy went in and came out and said: I mentioned you to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but he remained silent, so I came back. (Sayyiduna Umar says:) I returned and sat with those who were near the pulpit. Then my anxiety overcame me again, so I went and said to the boy: Ask permission for Umar to enter. He went in and came out and said: I mentioned you to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but he remained silent. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I had just turned away when the boy called me and said: The Messenger of Allah has given you permission. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I entered upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he was lying on a mat made of palm fibers, and its marks were visible on his side. He was reclining on a leather pillow stuffed with palm fibers. I greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then while standing, I said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! Have you divorced your wives? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) raised his gaze towards the sky and said: No. I said: Allahu Akbar! O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! You know our situation: we, the people of Quraysh, used to have authority over our wives. When we came to Madinah, we found a people whose wives had authority over them. One day, I expressed anger at my wife, and she replied back to me. I was surprised at her behavior, and she said: Are you surprised that I replied to you? By Allah! The wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also reply to him, and among them is one who remains angry with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from morning till evening. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I said: Hafsa will be disgraced and ruined. Are those wives safe from the wrath of Allah if He becomes angry with them because of the anger of His Messenger, and the woman upon whom (the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is angry) will be destroyed? Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) smiled. Then I said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! I went to Hafsa and said: Do not be deceived by the fact that your neighbor is more beautiful and more beloved to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) than you. I meant Aisha. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) smiled a second time. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: When I saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) smiling, I sat down. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: When I looked around the upper room, by Allah! I saw only three dry hides in it. I said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), pray to Allah to grant your Ummah abundance, for the people of Persia and Rome have been given abundance, and they have been given the blessings of the world, even though they do not worship Allah Almighty. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sat up straight, though before he had been reclining, and said: O son of Khattab, do you have any doubt? These are the people whose good things have been given to them in this worldly life. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! I seek forgiveness from Allah. (Sayyiduna Umar narrates:) The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had separated from his wives because of severe anger at them and had said: I will not go to them for a month, until Allah Almighty admonished him about this. When twenty-nine days had passed, he went to Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). He went to her first. Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! You had sworn that you would not come to us for a month, but only twenty-nine days have passed; I have counted them. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: A month can be twenty-nine days; a month can be twenty-nine days.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) told me that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) separated himself from his wives, I entered the mosque where people were stirring pebbles and saying, "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has divorced his wives." This was before the command of hijab was revealed. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says (I thought), "Today I will definitely find out about this matter." I went to Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) and said, "O daughter of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him)! Has your matter reached this point that you hurt Allah and His Messenger?" Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said, "O son of Khattab! What do I have to do with you? Mind your own house." Then I went to Hafsa bint Umar and said, "O Hafsa, has your matter reached this point that you hurt Allah and His Messenger? I know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) does not love you, and if it were not for me, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would have divorced you." At this, Hafsa began to cry loudly. I asked, "Where is the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)?" She told me, "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is resting in the upper room." I went there and found the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) servant Rabah sitting on the stairs of the upper room. He had stretched his feet on the plank made of palm trunks. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would ascend and descend using it. I addressed him, "O Rabah! Ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for permission for me to enter." He looked towards the upper room, then at me, and gave no reply. I said, "O Rabah! Ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for permission for me to enter. I think perhaps the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) thinks I have come because of Hafsa. By Allah, if the Messenger of Allah commands me to behead her, I will behead her." I said this loudly. (The boy went up and sought permission) and then signaled to me, so I entered the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was lying on a mat. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says, "I sat there. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was only wearing a waistcloth, nothing else was on his body, and the mark of the mat was visible on his side. When I looked around the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) room, there was about a sa' of barley and about a sa' of tree leaves, and there was an 'afiq' present." Abu Hafs, the narrator, says: "'Afiq' refers to a hide whose hair has been removed but has not yet been tanned." (Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says) "Tears began to flow from my eyes. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked, 'O son of Khattab, why are you crying?' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah, why should I not cry? This mat has left marks on your side, and what I see in your room, while Caesar and Chosroes live among fruits and rivers (i.e., in blessings), and you are the Messenger of Allah and His beloved, and your belongings are so few.' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'O son of Khattab, are you not pleased that for us is the Hereafter and for them is the world?' I said, 'Yes.' (Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says) "When I entered the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), I saw signs of anger on his face. I said, 'O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! Do not worry about these women, for if you divorce them, Allah, His angels, Jibreel, Mika'il, I, and Abu Bakr are with you.' (Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says) "Many times it happened that I said something praising Allah and hoped that Allah would confirm it, so the verse regarding giving the choice was revealed: 'And if he (the Messenger) divorces you (i.e., the pure wives), Allah will give him wives better than you.' (And in another place it is said:) 'And if both of them (try to pressure the Messenger), then indeed Allah is his helper.' Sayyidah Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) and Sayyidah Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her) wanted to pressure the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding his other wives. (Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says) "I said, 'O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! Have you divorced them?' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'No.' I said, 'O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), may I go back and inform the people that you have not divorced them?' The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'Yes, if you wish.' After that, I kept talking to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) until his anger subsided and signs of a good mood appeared on his face, and he began to smile. His smile was very beautiful. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came down from the upper room. I supported myself on the trunk while coming down, although the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) descended as if walking on level ground and did not even touch it with his hand. I said, 'O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), you have been residing in the upper room for twenty-nine days.' Then I stood at the door of the mosque and announced in a loud voice, 'The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has not divorced his wives.' So regarding this, the verse was revealed: 'And when there comes to them some matter regarding security or fear, they spread it.' The verse continues: 'But if they had referred it to the Messenger or to those of authority among them, then the ones who can draw correct conclusions among them would have known about it.' (Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says) "So I am the one who drew the conclusion in this matter, so Allah revealed the verse regarding giving the choice."

Sayyiduna Iyas bin Abu Dhabab (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Do not beat Allah’s maidservants (i.e., your wives). The narrator says: Upon this, the women became bold and their behavior towards their husbands deteriorated. So Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) submitted: The women have become bold and their behavior towards their husbands has deteriorated since you (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade beating them. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: You may beat them. That night, people beat their wives so much that the next day, many women came to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) with complaints of being beaten. At that time, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Last night, ten women came to the house of Muhammad, all with the same complaint that they had been beaten. By Allah! You will not find those who beat their wives to be the best among you.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Zam’ah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said:“What is the matter with someone who beats his wife as a slave is beaten, and then, at the end of the day, he has relations with her?”

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: On the occasion of the Battle of Khaybar, we captured some prisoners and intended to take ransom for them. We asked the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) about 'azl (coitus interruptus). The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: There is no harm upon you if you do not do it, because this is according to destiny. Abu Wadaak's name is Jabr bin Nauf; this has been stated by the Shaykh.

Sayyiduna Abu Dharr Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: When you have relations with your wife, you also receive a reward for it. It was asked, "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! Do we get a reward even for fulfilling our desires?" The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Yes, what do you think, if as a result of this relation a child is born to you, who grows up and then passes away, would you hope for reward because of your patience over him? That person replied: Yes. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: Did you create that child? He replied: Rather, Allah Almighty created him. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Did you grant him guidance? He replied: Rather, Allah Almighty granted him guidance. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: Did you provide him sustenance? He replied: Rather, Allah Almighty provided him sustenance. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Therefore, use it in a lawful way and avoid the unlawful, and you should maintain it; if Allah Almighty wills, He will give it life, and if He wills, He will give it death, and you will receive a reward.

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Some people asked the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) about 'azl (withdrawal): This was during the expedition of Banu Mustaliq. Those people had obtained some captives, and they disliked that the women among the captives would bear their children. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: If you do not do so, there is no harm in it, because Allah Almighty has already decreed in destiny until the Day of Resurrection whom He will create.

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with both of them) narrates: A man from among the Ansar came to the service of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: I have a slave girl with whom I practice coitus interruptus (‘azl). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Soon that which is written in her destiny will reach her. After that, the man again came to the service of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and informed him: That slave girl has become pregnant. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Whatever soul Allah Almighty has decreed to be born, it will surely be born. The narrator says: I mentioned this narration to Ibrahim, so he said: It is said that if it is written in the destiny of a drop of semen that a child is to be born from it, then even if it is placed on a stone, the child will be born from it.

Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: In the blessed era of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), we used to practice coitus interruptus (azl), and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not forbid us from it.