This, then, is the linguistic meaning of īlāʾ. Its meaning in Islamic law is the same, except that it has become established in legal usage for an oath to abstain from one’s wives and refrain from intercourse with them, as Allah mentions it in His Book and expressly states its ruling. This originated in the pre-Islamic period: when a man disliked his wife and wished to keep her bound to him so that she could not marry another, he would swear not to approach her, leaving her neither unmarried nor effectively married, in order to harm her. This practice continued in the early days of Islam. Allah therefore set a limit that a man who swore such an oath concerning his wife could not exceed, giving him the choice either to return to intercourse with her or to resolve upon divorce. Allah Most High says:
“For those who swear to abstain from their wives, there is a waiting period of four months. If they return, then Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful” [al-Baqarah: 226]. “But if they resolve upon divorce, then Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing” [al-Baqarah: 227].
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The passage means that those who swear to abstain from their wives have a waiting period of four months. Waiting here means holding back and allowing time to pass. The words “to abstain” are left unstated in the recited text because the explicit wording sufficiently indicates them. There are many examples of this in the Quran, including the words of Allah Most High:
“Whoever among you is ill or on a journey, then an equal number of other days” [al-Baqarah: 184].
The meaning is: if he breaks his fast, he must fast an equal number of other days. Likewise, His words, “So We said, ‘Strike the rock with your staff,’ and it split open,” mean: he struck it, and it split open. Another example is the saying of Allah Most High:
“If there were a Quran by which mountains could be moved, or the earth could be split apart, or the dead could be made to speak—but all matters belong entirely to Allah” [al-Ra'd: 31].
The implied conclusion is either “it would be this Quran” or “they would still not believe in it.” The conclusion of the conditional sentence is omitted because the wording indicates it. This is because “the disbelievers said to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ‘Move the mountains of Mecca farther apart for us so that we may plant gardens between them; or bring Syria nearer to us, for that is where we trade; or bring so-and-so and so-and-so back to life for us, so that we may ask them whether what you say is true.’ Allah, Mighty and Majestic, then revealed: ‘If there were a Quran by which mountains could be moved, or the earth could be split apart, or the dead could be made to speak’ [al-Ra'd: 31].” The conclusion was thus omitted because of the indication provided by