Az-Zihar and the Atonement for It Imam

Ahmad recorded that Khuwaylah bint Tha`labah said, "By Allah! Allah sent down the beginning of Surat Al-Mujadilah in connection with me and `Aws bin As-Samit. He was my husband and had grown old and difficult. One day, he came to me and I argued with him about something and he said, out of anger, `You are like my mother's back to me.' He went out and sat with some of his people. Then he came back and wanted to have sexual intercourse with me. I said, `No, by the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Khuwaylah! You will not have your way with me after you said what you said, until Allah and His Messenger issue judgement about our case.' He wanted to have his way regardless of my choice and I pushed him away from me; he was an old man.' I next went to one of my neighbors and borrowed a garment from her and went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I told him what happened and kept complaining to him of the ill treatment I received from `Aws. He said,

«يَاخُوَيْلَةُ، ابْنُ عَمِّكِ شَيْخٌ كَبِيرٌ، فَاتَّقِي اللهَ فِيه»

The Expiation for Zihar

وَالَّذِينَ يُظَاهِرُ‌ونَ مِن نِّسَائِهِمْ ثُمَّ يَعُودُونَ لِمَا قَالُوا (And those who declare zihar against their wives, then retract what they said, ...58:3). The preposition lam in the phrase يَعُودُونَ لِمَا قَالُوا "...retract what they said..." is used in the sense of ` an [ from ]. Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ interprets 'retract' in the sense of 'regret': 'they regret what they said and wish to be intimate or cohabit with their wives'. [ Mazhari ]