Discover the meaning of the term Al-iylaʾ (إيلاء) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 4 min readIt is the oath to forgo intercourse with one's wife for a period, as in: 'by God, I shall not have intercourse with you for four months.'
In language: the oath by God Most High or by other than Him, concerning divorce, manumission, hajj, or other; a verbal noun from 'I swore upon such' when one swears it, the hamza being interchanged with the ya' or the reverse. Its transitiveness by 'min' in the oath concerning a wife's conjugal approach is to fold in the sense of distance, as in the verse: 'and those who vow abstinence from their wives' (al-Baqara, 226). In the Law: it is the oath to forgo conjugal approach to the wife, free or slave, for a period of four months or more if she is free, or two months if she is a slave, as in: 'by God I shall not approach you for four months or two months'; or 'by God I shall not approach you'; if the husband touches his wife within the period he incurs expiation, if it was an oath.
The husband's oath to forgo intercourse with his wife capable of it, either absolutely or beyond four months, in an oath.
Confirming and strengthening a ruling; with the jurists: the oath to forgo intercourse with one's wife beyond four months (at-Ta'rifat, p. 42).
It is the oath to forgo intercourse with one's wife for a period, as in: 'by God, I shall not have intercourse with you for four months.'
The oath. Swearing to abstain from a thing absolutely. In the Law: the oath to forgo intercourse with the woman (Ibn Qudama). In the Law: the oath, by God Most High, or by what binds him hard, to forgo the wife's conjugal approach four months and upward (Ibn 'Abidin). In the Law: the oath of the husband capable of intercourse, by God Most High or by one of His attributes, to forgo his wife's intercourse for more than four months (al-Ba'li). In the Law: a husband's oath to abstain from his wife's intercourse absolutely, or more than four months (al-Ansari). The legal: that he swear not to approach his wife more than four months; if he swears four months it is not an ila' (at-Tusi). In the Law: speech preventing the wife's intercourse, even a slave girl, other than zihar (Atfaysh). In the Law: the oath to keep apart from the wife and leave her intercourse; the slave girl is not included; it was said the slave wife is not included (Ibn al-Majishun). In Ibn 'Abbas's view: that he swear never to come to her; if absolute, it is forever, and if he says 'perpetually' he emphasized. In Ibn Sirin's view: the oath to leave the wife's intercourse, or her speech, or her maintenance. With the Malikis: the oath of a Muslim, legally responsible husband contemplating intercourse to bar his wife's; or: that the man swear not to touch his wife for a term of more than four months, or four months, or absolutely; or: it is the oath of a Muslim, responsible husband contemplating intercourse, barring intercourse with the non-nursing wife more than four months for the free woman and two months for the slave. With the Ibadis: that he swear by her divorce upon a thing or leaving it, then forswears and has intercourse with her before reverting. With some scholars: that a man swear to leave his wife's speech, or to anger her, or treat her badly.