His statement: “If he divorces some of his wives, whether unspecified or specified, and then forgets which one it was.” His statement, “If he divorces,” is unrestricted wording, but it must be qualified: that is, if he divorces them with an irrevocable divorce. For if he pronounces a revocable divorce, the divorced woman transfers to the waiting period for death; thus, there is then no difference between one who is unspecified and one who is specified. This qualification is therefore necessary.
His statement, “unspecified”: an example is for him to say, “One of you is divorced,” or to say, “Hind is divorced,” when both of them are named Hind.
His statement, “or specified, and then forgets which one it was”: this is where he says, “Hind is divorced,” while he has another wife named Zaynab, but then forgets and becomes confused about the matter.
His statement, “and then forgets which one it was”: it may also be read, “and then he forgets which one it was.”
His statement, “then dies before drawing lots”: the author thereby informs us that, in a case such as this, lots are to be drawn. We have previously mentioned, in the chapter on doubt regarding divorce, that lots are drawn between them, and the one upon whom the lot falls is the divorced wife. However, this man died before lots could be drawn between them.
His statement, “each of them observes a waiting period”: that is, each of his wives.
His statement, “the longer of the two”: namely, the waiting period for death and the waiting period for divorce. This is because each one of them may be the divorced wife, while the other may not be divorced. The one who was not divorced observes the waiting period for death, and the divorced one observes the waiting period for divorce. Yet here we do not know which of them he divorced: was it Hind, Zaynab, or Aishah? We cannot be certainly absolved of liability unless we require every one of them to observe whichever is longer of the waiting period for death and that for divorce.
His statement, “except a pregnant woman”: he excluded the pregnant woman because her waiting period ends upon delivery.