• His words, “And it is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs” (al-Baqarah 2:228), prove that a woman is trusted with regard to her own state and that her word is accepted concerning the onset and cessation of menstruation, for He threatened her were she to hide it. This threat shows that her statement is legally acknowledged.
• His words, “When you marry believing women and then divorce them” (al-Ahzab 33:49), show that divorce is effective only after a marriage contract is in place. Therefore, if a man suspends a divorce upon his future marriage to a particular woman, that condition is void and no divorce occurs once he marries her, because marriage is not intended to defeat its own purpose. This differs from making the manumission of another person’s slave contingent upon one’s eventual ownership of him; such a stipulation is valid, and the slave is freed when he is purchased, for acquiring a bondsman with the aim of freeing him is a legitimate, praiseworthy objective.
• His statement, “So provide for them” (al-Ahzab 33:49), commands that a gift be given to every woman divorced before consummation. In the verse of al-Baqarah the command applies where no dower has been named; if a dower has been stipulated, it is halved when she is divorced before consummation, and that half of the dower itself serves as her compensation, as Allah says: “There is no blame upon you if you divorce women before you have touched them or appointed for them a dower; but give them a present—the wealthy according to his means and the poor according to his means—an equitable gift, a duty upon the doers of good (236). And if you divorce them before you have touched them and you have already appointed for them a dower, then half of what you appointed is due, unless they forgo it or the one in whose hand is the knot of marriage forgoes it; and to forgo is nearer to piety” (al-Baqarah 2:236–237).
The verse urges pardon in this specific matter because of its benefit and great importance, and He says, “Do not forget graciousness between yourselves” (al-Baqarah 2:237). This is magnificent, beneficial guidance for all dealings: a servant should not insist on claiming every last entitlement, but should leave room for gracious conduct—by forgiving, showing favor, paying more than what is strictly owed in amount or quality, or accepting less than the full right in quantity or description. How much good, abundant reward, kindness, blessing, peace of mind, and tranquillity of heart have flowed from such graciousness, even when it is only slight!