As for 'Askinuhunna' and what follows: it is an explanation of what is required of piety in His saying, 'And whoever fears Allah.' It is as if it were said: How do we act with piety regarding the divorced women? It was said: 'Askinuhunna.' If you say: What is meant by 'min haythu sakantum'? I say: It is of the partitive type, part of it is omitted. Its meaning is: 'Askinuhunna' in a place from where you have lived, meaning some part of your residence, like His saying, 'Yaghuddu min abṣārihim,' meaning some of their sight. Qatadah said: If there is only one house, then let him house her in some part of it. If you say: What about 'min wujdikum'? I say: It is an explanatory conjunction to 'min haythu sakantum' and an interpretation of it, as if it were said: 'Askinuhunna' in a place from your dwelling that you can afford. 'Al-wujd' means capacity and ability. It has been recited with the three vowel markings. The terms 'al-kunā' and 'al-nafaqa' are obligatory for every divorced woman. According to Malik and al-Shafi'i, the irrevocably divorced woman has only housing and no maintenance. And according to al-Hasan and Hamad, she has neither maintenance nor housing, due to the hadith of Fatimah bint Qais: Her husband refused to divorce her, so the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said to her: 'You have no housing and no maintenance.' This is narrated by Muslim through various chains from her. In one narration, it says: 'He did not provide her with housing nor maintenance.' In another narration: 'You have no maintenance and no housing.' In another narration: 'My husband divorced me three times.' And from Umar, may Allah be pleased with him: 'We do not abandon the Book of our Lord and the Sunnah of our Prophet for the words of a woman who may have forgotten or been mistaken: I heard the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, say: 'She has housing and maintenance.' This is narrated by Muslim, Abu Dawood, and al-Nasa'i through the route of Abu Ishaq, who said: 'I was with al-Aswad and with us was al-Shabi in the mosque when al-Shabi narrated the hadith of Fatimah bint Qais. Al-Aswad took a handful of pebbles and threw them at him, saying: 'Woe to you for narrating such a thing!' Umar said: 'We do not leave the Book of our Lord and the Sunnah of our Prophet for the words of a woman who may have remembered or forgotten.' And do not cause them harm, nor employ harm against them to narrow their living space by some means: such as bringing in someone who does not agree with them, or occupies their space, or otherwise, until you force them to leave. It was said: This means that he should take her back if two days remain of her waiting period to make her situation difficult. It was said: This means to compel her to redeem herself from him. If you say: If every divorced woman is entitled to maintenance, what is the benefit of the condition in His saying, 'And if they are pregnant, then spend on them'? It is said that it is not hidden from the observer of these verses that the irrevocably divorced woman who is not pregnant has no maintenance, because the verses were revealed to clarify the obligation. It made housing obligatory for every divorced woman mentioned earlier and did not make anything else obligatory. Then it excluded the pregnant women and specified them with the obligation of maintenance until they give birth. There is no clarification after this clarification, and the statement thereafter that maintenance is obligatory for every divorced woman, whether pregnant or not, is certainly contrary to the structure of the verse. Al-Zamakhshari supported the opinion of Abu Hanifah, saying: The benefit of specifying pregnant women is that pregnancy may last a long time, leading someone to think that maintenance is not obligatory due to its length, so it was specified to clarify this misconception. Al-Zamakhshari's aim was to carry the specification on this benefit, so that it would not imply the cancellation of maintenance for non-pregnant women, because Abu Hanifah equates all in the obligation of maintenance.

Its benefit is that the duration of pregnancy may be prolonged, so someone might think that maintenance is dropped once the period of the waiting woman has passed. This misconception is denied. If you say: What do you say about the pregnant woman whose husband has died? I say: There is a difference of opinion regarding this. Most of them hold that she is not entitled to maintenance, due to the consensus that if a man is compelled to provide maintenance for a woman or a small child, he is not required to spend from his wealth after his death, so the same applies to the pregnant woman. And according to Ali, Abdullah, and a group: they made her maintenance obligatory. 'If they nurse for you' means these divorced women, if they nurse for you a child from others or from themselves after the bond of marriage has ended, 'then give them their wages.' Their ruling in this matter is like that of the wet nurses. It is not permissible according to Abu Hanifa and his companions, may Allah be pleased with them, to hire if the child is from them unless it has been established. It is permissible according to Al-Shafi'i. 'Al-I'timār' means to consult, like 'Al-Ishtiwār' meaning to deliberate. It is said: The people conferred and consulted if some of them instructed others. The meaning is: And let each of you instruct the others, and the address is to the fathers and mothers with kindness, which is to be lenient, and that the father should not be difficult nor the mother harsh, because it is their child together, and they are partners in it and in the obligation of compassion. 'And if you are difficult, another will nurse for him.' There will be no shortage of a wet nurse other than the mother to nurse him, and there is a hint of reproach to the mother for being difficult, as you would say to someone you ask for a need who delays: Someone else will fulfill it. It was said by Mahmoud: 'And in His saying,