Hazrat Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that during the blessed era of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), a man said to his wife, "I will neither come near you nor will you be able to leave my marriage." The woman asked, "How will you do that?" The man replied, "I will divorce you, and when the time for your waiting period (iddah) is about to end, I will take you back." The woman, distressed, went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and on this occasion, the verse of the Holy Qur'an {إمْسَاکٌ بِمَعْرُوفٍ أَوْ تَسْرِیحٌ بِإِحْسَانٍ } was revealed. After that, people’s situation was such that either they had given divorce or they had not given divorce. (There was no intermediate state.)