Principle Thirty-Eight: Many Qur’anic verses show that Allah repairs the heart that has been broken, and that He fulfils the wish of anyone whose soul longs for something, whether that matter is obligatory or merely recommended.

This is a subtle principle which the Creator Himself has taken into consideration and to which He has directed His servants in several passages.

One example is the divorced woman: because she is generally broken-hearted and grieves over separation from her husband, Allah has ordered that she be granted a parting gift—the affluent according to his means and the poor according to his—an honourable provision.

Likewise, when a woman’s husband dies, fully healing her feelings includes allowing her to remain in his home for a whole year, a bequest and a commendable benefit.

Allah has also made it obligatory upon the husband to provide maintenance and clothing for his wife during her ʿidda (waiting period) if the divorce is revocable, or if she is a pregnant divorcée.

He, exalted be He, says in Sūrat al-Nisāʾ: “When relatives, orphans and the poor are present at the division, give them something out of it and speak to them kindly” (4:8).

Both mandatory and recommended forms of kindness are included in verses such as His words in Sūrat al-Anʿām: “Give its due on the day of harvest” (6:141).

Similarly, He recounts the punishment of the owners of the garden who swore to reap it at dawn and urged one another that no needy person should enter it that day.

And He says in Sūrat al-Isrāʾ: “If one of them—or both—reaches old age with you, do not say to them ‘Uff!’ and do not rebuke them; rather, address them graciously, and lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy” (17:23-24), and His words that follow: “Give the relative his due, as well as the needy and the wayfarer” (17:26).