Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:226

(Those who forswear their wives…) [2:226]. Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al-Fadl informed us> Muhammad ibn Ya'qub> Ibrahim ibn Marzuq> Muslim ibn Ibrahim> al-Harith ibn 'Ubayd> 'Amir ibn al-Ahwal> 'Ata'> Ibn 'Abbas who said: “The people of the pre-Islamic period used to forswear their wives for one year, two years and sometimes longer. Allah limited this period to four months, and any period less than four months is not considered a period of forswearing”. Said Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab: “Forswearing wives was of the harm inflicted on women during the pre-Islamic period. When a man did not want a woman and dislike that any other man to marry her, he would simply swear never to approach her. He would thus leave her neither divorced nor married. Allah therefore set a limited period of four months after which it becomes clear whether the man is the husband or not by revealing (Those who forswear their wives…)”.