Narrated from Nafi‘ that when Sayyiduna Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) divorced his wife while she was menstruating, Sayyiduna ‘Umar Farooq (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about it. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ordered him to take her back and said: Give her respite until she completes one menstrual cycle. Then give her respite until she becomes pure from that (menstruation), then (if you wish to divorce) divorce her before having intercourse with her. And this is the time in which Allah Almighty has commanded to divorce women. The narrator (Nafi‘) said that when Sayyiduna Ibn ‘Umar was asked about a man who divorced his wife while she was menstruating, he would say: If you have given one or two divorces (i.e., revocable), then regarding this the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ordered to take her back and to give her respite for one menstrual cycle and for her to become pure from menstruation, and then (if you wish to divorce) divorce her (in the state of purity) before having intercourse with her. And if you have given her three divorces (i.e., irrevocable, in which there is no return), then you have disobeyed the command of your Lord regarding divorcing your wife, and your wife has become irrevocably separated from you.

Ibn Sirin says that for twenty years a person, whom I did not consider reliable, narrated to me that Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) had given his wife three divorces during her menstrual period and was ordered to take her back. I did not consider his narration reliable, nor did I fully understand the hadith (as to what was correct), until I met Abu Ghalab Yunus bin Jubair Bahili, and he was a trustworthy man. He told me that he asked Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), and he said: I gave my wife one divorce during her menstrual period, so I was ordered to take her back. The narrator said: Then I asked, was that divorce also counted against her? (Meaning, if two more divorces are given, will they total three?) He said: Why not? If he becomes incapable or foolish (Sayyiduna Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with him, said this about himself), meaning, if I do not count that divorce, it would be foolishness.

`Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says that during the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and during the caliphate of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr and the first two years of the caliphate of Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), if someone pronounced three divorces at once, it was counted as only one. Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said that people have started to hasten in a matter in which they were given respite, so if we enforce it, it would be appropriate. Then he enforced it (i.e., he decreed that whoever pronounces three divorces at once, all three will take effect).

Narrated from Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) that Rifa’ah al-Qurazi gave his wife an irrevocable divorce (i.e., a final, non-revocable divorce), so she (i.e., his wife) married ‘Abdur Rahman bin Zubair (may Allah be pleased with him). Then she came to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and inquired: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), I was in the bond of marriage with Rifa’ah (may Allah be pleased with him) and he gave me the last of the three divorces, so I married ‘Abdur Rahman bin Zubair (may Allah be pleased with him). And she took hold of a corner of her garment and said: By Allah, he has nothing with him except something like this corner of cloth. The narrator said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) smiled at her words and said: Perhaps you wish to return to Rifa’ah (may Allah be pleased with him)? No, that cannot happen until he (the new husband) tastes your sweetness and you taste his sweetness (i.e., until you have marital relations). At that time, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) was sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and Khalid bin Sa’id bin ‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) was waiting for permission at the door of the chamber. The narrator says that Khalid (may Allah be pleased with him) called out to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him): Why do you not rebuke this woman for what she is saying in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?

`Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says that when someone says to his wife, "You are forbidden to me," then this is an oath, and expiation is necessary for it. And Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said that indeed, for you in the way of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is the best example.

Narrated from Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to stay with Umm al-Mu’minin Zainab (may Allah be pleased with her) and would drink honey at her place. So Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) said that she and Umm al-Mu’minin Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her) agreed that whichever of them the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) visited, she would say to him,“I find the smell of Maghafir from you; have you eaten Maghafir?”(This is a type of gum with an unpleasant odor.) When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to one of them, she said this to him, so he replied,“Rather, I drank honey at Zainab’s place, and now I will never drink it again.”Then this verse was revealed:“O Prophet! Why do you forbid what Allah has made lawful for you... If both of them repent,”meaning Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha and Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with them). And when Allah said,“The Prophet confided a matter to one of his wives”(At-Tahrim: 1-3), the matter referred to is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had said,“I drank honey.”

‘Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was very fond of sweets and honey, and (it was his blessed habit that) when he had performed the Asr prayer, he would go to his noble wives and come close to each one. So one day he went to Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her) and stayed there longer than usual, so when I inquired about the reason, I found out that a woman from her tribe had gifted her a small bottle of honey, and she had given the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) a drink of honey. So I said,“By Allah, we will devise a plan against her.”I mentioned this to Sawda (may Allah be pleased with her) and said to her,“When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) comes to you and draws near to you, say to him, ‘O Messenger of Allah! Did you eat Maghafir?’ He (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) will say, ‘No.’ Then you say to him, ‘Then what is this smell?’ And it was the habit of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he greatly disliked that any bad odor should come from him. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) will say to you, ‘Hafsa gave me a drink of honey.’ Then you say to him, ‘Perhaps its bee sucked nectar from the ‘Urfd tree’ (Urfd is the name of the tree whose gum is Maghafir).’ And I will say the same to him, and O Safiyyah (may Allah be pleased with her), you also say the same to him.”Then when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to Sawda (may Allah be pleased with her), Sawda (may Allah be pleased with her) says,“By the One besides whom there is no deity, I was about to go out and say to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) exactly what you (O Aisha) had told me, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was at the door, and my haste in saying it was out of fear of you.”Then when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came near, she said,“Did you eat Maghafir?”The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said,“No.”Then she said,“What is this smell?”The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said,“Hafsa gave me a drink of honey.”Then she said,“Perhaps its bee sucked nectar from the ‘Urfd tree’ (that is why its smell came into the honey).”Then when he came to me (Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her), I also said the same to him. Then he went to Safiyyah (may Allah be pleased with her), and she also said the same. So when he went again to Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her), she said,“O Messenger of Allah! Shall I bring you some more honey from it?”The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said,“I have no need of it.”Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) says that Sawda (may Allah be pleased with her) said,“Subhan Allah! We have deprived the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) from drinking honey.”So Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) says,“I said to her, ‘Be quiet.’”

Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him): Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) came and sought permission to enter upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and saw that people were gathered at the door of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and no one had been granted permission to enter. The narrator said: Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was granted permission and he entered. Then Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) came and sought permission, and he too was granted permission. They found the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sitting, surrounded by his wives, who were sitting quietly and sorrowfully. Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) thought to himself: I will certainly say something to make the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) laugh. So he said: O Messenger of Allah! If only you had seen the daughter of Kharijah (she was the wife of Umar, may Allah be pleased with him), when she asked me for expenses, I stood up and began to strangle her neck. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) laughed and said: They are all around me as you see, and they are asking me for expenses. So Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up and began to strangle Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), and Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) did the same to Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her), and both of them said to their daughters: Do you ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for something which he does not possess? And they replied: By Allah, we will never ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for anything which he does not have. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) separated from them for a month or twenty-nine days. Then this verse was revealed to him: "O Prophet! Say to your wives..." to "...a great reward." (Al-Ahzab: 28, 29). So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) first came to Umm al-Mu'mineen Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) and said to her: O Aisha! I am going to present something to you and I wish that you do not hasten in your decision until you consult your parents. She said: O Messenger of Allah! What is it? Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited this verse to her. She said: O Messenger of Allah! Should I consult my parents regarding you? Rather, I choose Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And I ask you not to inform any of your wives about the answer I have given. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: If any of them asks me, I will surely inform her, for Allah has not sent me as one who causes hardship or difficulty, but as one who teaches ease.

Masruq says: I have no fear if I give my wife the option once, or a hundred times, or a thousand times, when she has already chosen me. And I asked Umm al-Mu'mineen Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her), and she said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) gave us the option, so did this become a divorce? (That is, it did not.)

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) that he said: I intended for a whole year to ask Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) about this verse, but due to his awe, I could not ask. Until he set out for Hajj and I also went with him. Then, when we were returning, Sayyiduna Umar once leaned towards the trees of Pilu for some need, and I waited for him until he finished his need, then I walked with him. And I said: O Commander of the Faithful! Who are those two women among your wives who pressured the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? He said: They are Hafsa and Aisha (may Allah be pleased with them). He said: I said to him: By Allah, I have wanted to ask you about this for a year, but I could not due to your awe. So he said: Do not do that, whatever comes to your mind that I know, ask me about it, if I know, I will tell you. He said: Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah, we were previously caught in ignorance and did not give any importance to women, until Allah revealed regarding their rights what He revealed, and appointed for them what He appointed. So one day it happened that I was consulting in some matter, and my wife said: If you did it this way, it would be better. So I said to her: What do you have to do with my work? What I intend, what concern is it of yours? She said to me: O son of Khattab! It is strange, you want that no one should answer you, while your daughter answers the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), until he remains angry the whole day. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Then I took my cloak and left the house and entered upon Hafsa and said to her: O my dear daughter! Do you answer the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) until he remains angry the whole day? Hafsa said: By Allah, I do answer him. So I said to her: Know that I warn you of Allah's punishment and the anger of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), O my daughter! Do not be deceived by that wife who boasts of her beauty and the love of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) (i.e., Umm al-Mu'mineen Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her). Then I left there and entered upon Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her) due to the kinship I had with her, and I spoke to her. Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her) said to me: O son of Khattab! It is strange about you that you interfere in everything, even you want to interfere in the matter of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his wives. Her words hurt me so much that it stopped me from the advice I wanted to give. And I left her. I had a friend among the Ansar, that when I was absent, he would inform me (of the gatherings and sayings of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him), and when he was absent, I would inform him, and in those days we feared one of the kings of Ghassan, and there was talk among us that he intended to come towards us, and our hearts were filled with this thought. During this, my friend came and knocked on the door and said: Open, open! I said: Have the Ghassanids come? He said: No, but something even more distressing has happened, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has separated from his pure wives. So I said: May the noses of Hafsa and Aisha be dusted. Then I took my clothes and went out until I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he was in an upper room, which was climbed by a root of a date-palm, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had a black slave at the end of the ladder. So I said: This is Umar, has permission been given for me? Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Then I narrated this whole story to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and when I reached the part about Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her), the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) smiled. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) was on a mat, and there was no bedding between him and the mat, and under his head was a leather pillow stuffed with palm fibers. And at his feet was a heap of leaves of the sumac tree (with which leather is dyed), and at his head hung a raw leather skin. I saw the marks and impressions of the mat on the side of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), so I began to weep. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: O Umar! What has made you weep? I said: O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)! Indeed, Kisra and Caesar are living in luxury, and you are the Messenger of Allah. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Are you not pleased that for them is the world and for you is the Hereafter?