At-Talaq · Madani · ayah 4 of 12

At-Talaq 65:4

وَٱلَّـٰٓـِٔى يَئِسْنَ مِنَ ٱلْمَحِيضِ مِن نِّسَآئِكُمْ إِنِ ٱرْتَبْتُمْ فَعِدَّتُهُنَّ ثَلَـٰثَةُ أَشْهُرٍ وَٱلَّـٰٓـِٔى لَمْ يَحِضْنَ ۚ وَأُو۟لَـٰتُ ٱلْأَحْمَالِ أَجَلُهُنَّ أَن يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ ۚ وَمَن يَتَّقِ ٱللَّهَ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ مِنْ أَمْرِهِۦ يُسْرًا

“And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women - if you doubt, then their period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated. And for those who are pregnant, their term is until they give birth.[1700] And whoever fears Allāh - He will make for him of his matter ease.”

Saheeh International

Essence

An ayah of exact measures names women left out of the count, ends a pregnant woman's waiting when her load is down, and promises ease.

A reflection

If you are unsure

The commentaries preserve a report about how this ayah came. After the waiting-period rules in Al-Baqarah were revealed, some people in Madina said something was missing. Some women's waiting periods have not been mentioned in the Book. The young, the old whose cycles have stopped, and the pregnant. A Companion carried the question to the Prophet ﷺ, and this ayah came down.

The chain of that report is debated, so it is held lightly. But the ayah's own wording fits it closely. It begins: those of your women who no longer expect menstruation, if you are unsure. One major commentator preferred this reading of in irtabtum. If you are unsure of their ruling and do not know it, it is three months. A later commentator agreed it is the more apparent sense.

Read that way, the ayah opens by naming the listeners' uncertainty, without rebuke, and then settling it.

There is something tender in that. People noticed that some women seemed to fall outside the law's count. They asked. The answer did not scold them for asking, nor leave those women in a grey zone. It named them, one group after another, and gave each a measure.

Most of us know the feeling of not fitting the categories. The form has no box for your situation. The guidance seems written for someone else. This ayah is a reminder that the gaps people notice are not gaps in Allah's knowledge. Bring the question. The Book has room for the people the first reading seemed to miss.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.