226 Preface لِلَّذينَ يُؤلونَ مِن نِسائِهِم تَرَبُّصُ أَربَعَةِ أَشهُرٍ ۖ فَإِن فاءوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفورٌ رَحيمٌAli Quli QaraiFor those who forswear their wives1 shall be a waiting for four months. And if they recant, Allah is indeed all-forgiving, all-merciful. That is, by pronouncing īlā, a pre-Islamic practice which allowed the husband to take an oath to refrain from sexual relations with his wife, which left the wife in a state of uncertainty for an indefinite period. According to this verse, the husband must decide within four months either to restore the marriage or to divorce her.