'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (women who are divorced) through one or two pronouncements of divorce (shall wait) shall wait a certain time called the waiting period, (keeping themselves apart, three (monthly) courses) for three menstruation periods. (and it is not lawful for them that they should conceal) their pregnancy (that which allah hath created in their wombs) of offspring (if they are believers in allah and the last day. and their husbands would do better to take them back) to take them back as their wives (in that case) during the waiting period or if they are pregnant (if they desire reconciliation.) this is because in the early period of islam, when a man divorced his wife via one or two pronouncements of divorce, he had a better right to take her back after the lapse of the waiting period, before her marrying again. later, the right to take one's wife back was abrogated by the saying of allah: (divorce must be pronounced twice). similarly, a man had a better right to take his wife back if she were pregnant, even if he had pronounced her divorce a thousand times. this was however abrogated by allah's saying: (divorce them for their (legal) period) [65:1]. (and they (women) have rights) and inviolability with their husbands (similar to those) of their husbands (over them in kindness) in kind companionship and intercourse, (and men are a degree above them) in relation to the reasoning faculty, inheritance, blood money, as witnesses in court and also that which they owe them in terms of expenditure and service. (allah is mighty) in that he is vengeful vis-à-vis whoever leaves that which is between a husband and wife of rights and inviolability, (wise) regarding that which he has ruled between them.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : divorced women shall wait by themselves, before remarrying, for three periods (qurū’in is the plural of qar’), of purity or menstruation — these are two different opinions — which begin from the moment of divorce. this [stipulation] applies to those who have been sexually penetrated but not to those otherwise, on account of his saying, there shall be no [waiting] period for you to reckon against them [q. 33:49]. the waiting period for immature or menopausal women is three months; pregnant women, on the other hand, must wait until they give birth, as stated in the sūrat al-talāq [q. 65:4], while slavegirls must wait two months, according to the sunna. and it is not lawful for them to hide what god has created in their wombs, of child or menstruation, if they believe in god and the last day. their mates, their spouses, have a better right to restore them, to bring them back, even if they refuse, in such time, that is, during the waiting period, if they desire to set things right, between them, and put pressure on the woman [to return]; the statement is not a condition for the possibility of return, but an incitement [to set things right] in the case of repealed divorce; the term ahaqq, ‘better right to’, does not denote any priority, since, in any case, no other person has the right to marry them during their waiting period; women shall have rights, due from their spouses, similar to those, rights, due from them, with justice, as stipulated by the law, in the way of kind conjugality and not being harmed; but their men have a degree above them, in rights, as in their duty to obey their husbands, because of their [the husbands’] payment of a dowry and their [husbands] being the bread-winners; god is mighty, in his kingdom, wise, in what he has ordained for his creatures.
