The second reason is that the hadith may have reached a scholar, but he did not trust its transmitter and believed that it conflicted with stronger evidence. He therefore followed what he regarded as stronger. Here again, our example is not from those who came after the Companions, but from the Companions themselves.

Fātima bint Qays—may Allah be pleased with her—was given the last of three divorce pronouncements by her husband. His agent sent her some barley as maintenance for the duration of her waiting period, but she was displeased with the barley and refused to accept it. The dispute was brought before the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—who informed her that she was entitled to neither maintenance nor housing1. This was because her husband had divorced her irrevocably, and a woman who has been irrevocably divorced is entitled to neither maintenance nor housing from her former husband unless she is pregnant, for Allah Most High says: “And if they are pregnant, then spend on them until they lay down