He will call you to account for the oaths you have sworn in earnest; the expiation for them is to feed ten needy persons from the average of what you feed your own families, or to clothe them, or to free a slave. Whoever cannot find the means must fast three days. That is the expiation for your oaths when you have sworn (5:89).

13 – Hadith (945) proves that the maximum period for a lawful ʾilāʾ is four months; anything beyond that is not permitted. Once the four months have elapsed, the husband who swore the oath must either resume marital relations or pronounce divorce.

14 – It also shows that neither divorce nor dissolution of the marriage occurs automatically with the mere passage of four months before resumption. The marriage remains in force, and divorce does not take effect until the husband actually issues it—even if the judge compels him to do so, for such compulsion is exercised with due right.