Benefits of the Hadith: (… He said: If a man marries a virgin to a woman who has previously been married, he stays with her for seven days; and if he marries a woman who has previously been married to a virgin, he stays with her for three days. Khalid said: Even if I were to say that it was elevated to the Prophet, I would be telling the truth, but he said: The Sunnah is such.)

The Shaykh : In this, there is evidence that the Companions distinguished between a statement that something is from the Sunnah or that the Sunnah is such, and the explicit elevation of a hadith to the Prophet. That is because if a Companion says, "The Sunnah is such" or "It is from the Sunnah," it is elevated in ruling, but not explicitly elevated. However, if he says, "The Prophet said," it is explicitly elevated. In this hadith, there is evidence for the distinction between a virgin and a woman who has previously been married: the virgin is allotted seven days, and the woman who has previously been married is allotted three. The reason for the difference between them is apparent. First, the virgin is more desirable to the husband than the woman who has previously been married, so he is given seven days to satisfy his desire. Second, the virgin is more shy of the man because she is a virgin, more so than the woman who has previously been married, because the latter has become accustomed to it. Therefore, the period was extended for the virgin and shortened for the woman who has previously been married. This indicates the wisdom of the Shari'ah, even in dealing with creation, just as the Shari'ah has wisdom in dealing with creation. If a virgin had previously been married but her virginity had not been broken, does the ruling remain or not? The answer is: the ruling remains because she is still a virgin. If a woman had previously been married through zina, may Allah protect us from that, or through intercourse based on a doubt, does the ruling of the woman who has previously been married apply to her, such that he stays with her for three days? The answer is yes. The apparent meaning of the Sunnah is that whether she was a woman who had previously been married through a husband or a master, or through zina or through intercourse based on a doubt, yes. May Allah keep you sound.