And when Allah, glorified and exalted is He, set this period for preventing them from men, He clarified that the hinting at a proposal is not included in the prohibition. He said: "And there is no blame upon you" meaning no sin that inclines "in what you hint at" meaning what you say while you intend something that is far from it, as if it is on one side and it is on another side that cannot be reached except by a roundabout way, such as saying: 'You are beautiful' or 'You are beneficial,' and I intend to marry, and perhaps Allah will make for me a righteous companion.

And when the waiting period of the deceased is long, the restraint of the soul in it from marriage is severe. The permissibility of hinting is close to grazing around the forbidden area. Whoever grazes around the forbidden area is close to entering it. This is specific to following the prohibition of contracting before the expiration of the waiting period, which is a means of being cautious and a prevention from transgression. So He said: ﴿And do not be resolute﴾ meaning do not be firm, meaning do not do an action that is decisive and unambiguous in it. ﴿The contract of marriage﴾ means the marriage that becomes contracted for the woman in her waiting period, which is a period in which she is separated. So He included the firm intention, and for that reason He omitted 'upon' and placed it upon the contract, which is one of its effects and cannot be realized without it. It is as if He said: And do not be resolute on the marriage while the contract remains. This is more eloquent than if it were said: And do not contract the marriage, for the prohibition of the resolution, which is the cause of the contract, is a prohibition of the contract in the first place.

Al-Harali said: And the contract is the binding of the two parties who are separated in such a way that its dissolution is difficult. This is a meaning less than writing, which is a connection and a tying. ﴿Until the writing reaches﴾ means that which has preceded in what I have revealed to you regarding the clarification of the waiting period of one whose bond has been severed from a man by death or divorce, or what has been written and prescribed regarding the waiting period. ﴿Its term﴾ means the duration that has been set for the waiting period.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, permitted hinting and prohibited the resolution of the contract and intensified the matter by linking it to the writing, and there remained between the two parties matters in which desire is usually dominant and inclination is swaying, He, glorified and exalted is He, intensified the prohibitions to counter those urges. So He addressed those matters with the threat of His saying: ﴿And know﴾ meaning, O those who desire something of that. ﴿That Allah﴾ and to Him belongs all perfection ﴿knows what is in your souls﴾ all of it. ﴿So beware of Him﴾ and do not be resolute on evil, for from the encompassing of knowledge, the encompassing of ability follows.

And when He threatened them with His knowledge, and that was the end of the threat, everyone knew of themselves the shortcomings that were beyond description. He informed them of what necessitated the delay upon that from His grace with His forgiveness and forbearance, urging them towards repentance and establishing a balance between hope and awe. He said: ﴿And know that Allah﴾, meaning as His majesty necessitated punishment, His beauty necessitated pardon. So He is ﴿Forgiving﴾, meaning concealing the sins of the sinners if they repent, ﴿Forbearing﴾, not hastening punishment upon anyone. So hasten to repent, hoping for His forgiveness, and do not be deceived by His delay. For the anger of the Forbearing, due to prolonged patience, is unbearable. It is permissible that the meaning is: and do not declare to the women in their waiting period the contract of marriage during any of the waiting periods. The secret in the difference of them is that the waiting period of death is prolonged in consideration of the heirs to a limit that is the utmost indication of the purity of the womb. This is because the water can be in it for forty days as a drop, and similarly for a clot, and similarly for a chewed lump, then the spirit is blown into it. That is four months. The months may be reduced by four days, so it was increased and compensated by what completed the closest contracts to it. In Sahih Muslim, may Allah be pleased with him, the estimation of the first duration is "forty-two days." In one narration: "forty-five." In another narration: "a few and forty." If the few is taken as six and what may reduce the months is added, it becomes four months and ten days. And it did not exceed that in consideration of the woman, for it is said that the patience of women decreases after that. And in the matter of purity, it is limited to one cycle, which is the least indication of the purity of the womb, because the master is usually mingling with the community, making patience difficult. And the waiting period of the free woman is tripled, following the Sunnah of the legislator in the waiting period with the tripling, with the removal of the reason for hastening from mingling. And because most divorces are revocable, it may be out of anger, so the duration is extended for it to subside. And the waiting period of the slave woman from divorce is between the purity and the waiting period of the free woman due to the dispute over her rights, which necessitates limitation, and the rights of the husband, which necessitates extension, with the impossibility of classification - and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, knows best.