and He says: “Those of you who die and leave wives behind—their wives must wait four months and ten days.” 1. Each of the two verses is general in one respect and specific in another. The way to reconcile two texts related in this manner is to apply them both to the situation in which their rulings overlap. There is no way to do that except by taking the course adopted by Alī and Ibn Abbās—may Allah be pleased with them both. But the Sunnah takes precedence over this.

It is authentically established from the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—in the hadith of Subaya al-Aslamiyya that she gave birth a few nights after her husband’s death, whereupon the Messenger of Allah permitted her to marry. 2 This means that we follow the verse in Sūrat al-Talāq—known as the Lesser Sūrat al-Nisā—taking Allah Most High’s words in their general sense: “As for pregnant women, their term is until they give birth.” 3. I know with absolute certainty that, had this hadith reached Alī and Ibn Abbās, they would undoubtedly have followed it and would not have maintained their own opinion.