❖ Īlāʾ: The Husband’s Oath and the Four-Month Limit
Written by: ʿImrān Ayyūb Lāhorī
❀ Definition and Ruling
Īlāʾ is when a husband swears an oath concerning all or some of his wives that he will not approach them.
- If he sets a period less than four months, then he must remain apart until that specified period is complete.
❀ Linguistic Explanation
The word “Īlāʾ” comes from the root آلى يُولِي (form: ifʿāl), meaning “to swear an oath.”
It is derived from أليه (with tashdīd on the yāʾ).
Its plural is ālāyā, similar in form to khaṭāyā.
References:
- Lisān al-Mīzān 1/117
- al-Ṣiḥāḥ 6/227
❀ Technical Definition
In Islamic jurisprudence, Īlāʾ means:
A husband swears an oath that he will not be intimate with his wife for four months or more.
The four Imāms (Abū Ḥanīfah, Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad) have all defined it with this meaning in slightly different wordings.
References:
- Tabyīn al-Ḥaqāʾiq 2/261
- Mughnī al-Muḥtāj 3/343
- Tuḥfat al-Muḥtāj 8/188
❀ Prophetic Example
It is narrated from Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها that the Prophet ﷺ swore an oath that he would not go to some of his wives for one month.
When one month had passed, he went back to them.
[Bukhārī: 5202, Kitāb al-Nikāḥ: Bāb Hujrat al-Nabī Nisāʾ, Muslim: 1085]
