ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal

The teacher Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: I heard Ḥāmid ibn Ādam say: I heard Asad ibn ʿAmr say: Abū Ḥanīfa used to tell us: “When I tell you something for which I have not found a transmitted report, seek one: there may be a report concerning it.” One day he said: “If a man tells his wife, ‘By God, I shall not approach you for three months,’ he does not enter īlāʾ until he swears for four months.” He cited no report but told us to seek one. Later Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba visited us; at that time he was foremost because of his extensive learning and visits to scholars. We asked him and he related, from ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, from ʿAṭāʾ, from Ibn ʿAbbās: If a man swears not to approach his wife for three months and leaves her for four months, he has not entered īlāʾ. We brought Abū Ḥanīfa this good news, and he rejoiced. We asked his evidence. He answered: “God’s Book: ‘For those who swear abstention from their wives, a waiting period of four months’ [Qurʾan 2:226]. I disliked venturing upon interpretation by my own opinion.”