so His words, “Lodge them where you dwell, according to your means” [al-Talāq: 6], refer back to that passage. For the Quran as a whole is like a single surah: its passages refer to and explain one another.

The second answer is that they have indeed already been mentioned in this surah, for His words, Mighty and Majestic,

“O Prophet, when you divorce women, divorce them at the proper time for their waiting period” [al-Talāq: 1],

include women who have not yet been divorced, those who have been divorced once, and those who have been divorced twice and have one pronouncement remaining, since a single pronouncement in accordance with the Sunnah then makes the divorce irrevocable. Thus His words, “Lodge them where you dwell, according to your means” [al-Talāq: 6], refer to the last of these, rather than the other women included in the general wording.

Those who hold that she is entitled to neither maintenance nor accommodation cite the report that Fātimah bint Qays said: “The Messenger of Allah granted me neither maintenance nor accommodation.” This provides no proof, for she said this only as her interpretation of the Prophet’s instruction, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that she observe her waiting period at the home of Ibn Umm Maktūm. His command that she observe it there shows that he transferred her from her husband’s home, where she was obliged to observe her waiting period, to the place he instructed her to stay, because of her verbal abuse of her in-laws, as mentioned earlier. Thus the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did grant her accommodation and made staying there a duty she owed to Allah Most High, without her realizing it. Had he not made this obligatory upon her, he would not have commanded her to stay in any particular place, but would have said: “Observe your waiting period wherever you wish, for you have no entitlement to accommodation.”

Those who hold that she is entitled to both accommodation and maintenance cite the report that ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “We do not abandon a verse from our Lord’s Book and the Sunnah of our Prophet on the word of a woman. I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say: ‘She is entitled to accommodation and maintenance.’”

It was understood—and Allah knows best—that when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, told her, “You are entitled to no maintenance,” it was because she had been displeased with what her husband had sent her, since he considered that to be what her husband owed her, in accordance with the words of Allah, Mighty and Majestic:

“Let the one whose provision is restricted spend from what Allah has given him. Allah does not burden any soul beyond what He has given it.” [al-Talāq: 7]

It was also understood that the maintenance Allah commanded for pregnant women in His words,

“And if they are pregnant, spend on them until they give birth” [al-Talāq: 6],

is due not because of the pregnancy, but because of the waiting period. Were it due because of the pregnancy, the father would be entitled to recover it from the child if the child were born alive after a maternal brother had died and left him an inheritance—just as he would if he had supported the child during his lifetime and it later emerged that the child possessed wealth.

Those who hold that she is entitled to accommodation differ over her obligations concerning it, giving three opinions. The first is that she is not obliged to remain there; it is simply a right of hers, which she may exercise if she wishes, and if