and “release in return for compensation” does not count as one of the three divorces, as Ibn ʿAbbās explained—even though Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿIkrimah are the very narrators through whom al-Bukhārī transmitted the hadith concerning the wife of Thābit ibn Qays, as mentioned above … (1).

He said: “The hadith they cite is narrated by ʿIkrimah with the Companion omitted from its chain.” Abū Bakr ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said: “It is weak, with the Companion omitted.”

The response is that this applies to some of its chains of transmission; the others do not contain this omission. Moreover, this particular version has been transmitted with a connected chain by a narrator equal, if not superior, in standing to the narrator who omitted the Companion. In such cases, the connected version takes precedence over the version containing that omission. Al-Hākim also narrated this hadith in his collection of authentic reports, entitled al-Mustadrak, and said: “This hadith has an authentic chain of transmission, except that ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated it from Maʿmar with the Companion omitted.” Al-Qushayrī also included it in his Ahkām, in which he stipulated that he would transmit only hadiths whose narrators had been declared trustworthy by a leading authority in assessing hadith transmitters, and which were authentic according to the method of some of the leading hadith scholars and critical jurists.

He said: “The position of ʿUthmān and Ibn ʿAbbās is contradicted by that of ʿUmar and ʿAlī, who said: ‘Her waiting period is three menstrual periods.’ As for Ibn ʿUmar, Mālik narrated from Nāfiʿ that he said: ‘The waiting period of a woman who obtains khulʿ is the same as that of a divorced woman.’ This is the more authentic report from him.”

The response is: As for what is reported from ʿUmar and ʿAlī … (2). Even assuming that disagreement among the Companions is established, the matter over which they disagreed must be referred back to Allah and the Messenger. The Sunnah has made clear that what is required is one menstrual period … (3). Further evidence clarifying this is that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, instructed the wife of Thābit ibn Qays to menstruate