Maqil said, "I had a sister whose hand was being sought from me. A cousin of mine came to me, and I married her to him. Then he divorced her with a divorce from which he could still take her back, but he left her alone until her waiting period had expired. Later, when she was again being sought in marriage, he came to me asking for her hand, and I said, 'By Allah, I will never marry her to you.'"He continued, "It was concerning me that this verse was revealed, 'And when you have divorced women and they have completed their waiting period, do not prevent them from marrying their husbands' [Baqarah 2:232]."He said, "So I made expiation for my oath and married her to him."
كانت لي أخت تخطب إلي، فأتاني ابن عم لي، فأنكحتها إياه، ثم طلقها طلاقا له رجعة ثم تركها، حتى انقضت عدتها، فلما خطبت إلي أتاني يخطبها فقلت: والله لا أنكحها أبدا، قال: ففي نزلت هذه الآية: {وإذا طلقتم النساء فبلغن أجلهن فلا تعضلوهن أن ينكحن أزواجهن} قال: فكفرت عن يميني فأنكحتها إياه.
Bukhari related it in the tafsir (4529) and Abu Dawud (2087), the wording being Abu Dawud's, both from the hadith of Abu Amir Aqadi, who said, Abbad bin Rashid narrated to us, Hasan narrated to us, who said, Maqil bin Yasar narrated to me, and he related it.Bukhari said, Ibrahim said, from Yunus, from Hasan, Maqil bin Yasar narrated to me. And Abu Muamar narrated to us, Abdul-Warith narrated to us, Yunus narrated to us, from Hasan, that the sister of Maqil bin Yasar was divorced by her husband, who left her until her waiting period had ended, then he proposed to her, but Maqil refused, so this verse was revealed, "So do not prevent them from marrying their husbands" [Baqarah 2:232].Bukhari narrated it through three routes, but he only gave the full wording of the hadith in the third route, and it contains an interruption in the chain, for Hasan did not witness the incident himself, though in the other routes there is an explicit statement of hearing it directly from Maqil bin Yasar. Bukhari's statement "Ibrahim said" is a connected chain in the Book of Marriage (5130), and he cited it here to show that Hasan heard it from Maqil bin Yasar. Ibn Jareer Tabari cited, in his tafsir, several narrations stating that it was revealed concerning Maqil bin Yasar Muzani and his sister.Tirmidhi related it (2981) through another route, from Hasan, from Maqil bin Yasar, mentioning something similar, and said, "This is a sahih hadith, and it has been narrated through more than one route from Hasan." He drew a conclusion from the hadith, saying, "This hadith indicates that marriage is not valid without a guardian, because the sister of Maqil bin Yasar had previously been married, and if the matter had rested with her alone, apart from her guardian, she would have married herself off and would not have needed her guardian Maqil bin Yasar. Rather, Allah addressed the guardians in the verse, saying, "So do not prevent them from marrying their husbands" [Baqarah 2:232]. This verse indicates that the matter of marriage rests with the guardians, along with the women's consent."It has also been said that the verse was revealed concerning Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari, who had a paternal cousin whose husband divorced her with a single divorce, after which her waiting period ended, and he then came back wanting to remarry her. Jabir said, "Our cousin was divorced, and now you want to marry her a second time?" The woman wanted her first husband back, and so this verse was said to have been revealed, though this account is not sahih.As for the apparent meaning of the verse, it points to the substance of what has been described, namely that a man divorces his wife once or twice, her waiting period then ends, and he wants to marry her again, while the woman is willing to return to her husband, but her guardians prevent this out of pride. So Allah, addressing these guardians, said, "So do not prevent them" [Baqarah 2:232], meaning, do not prevent them from returning to their husbands through a new marriage contract. "If they mutually agree between themselves in an acceptable manner" [Baqarah 2:232], meaning, if the woman agrees to return to her first husband, then it is forbidden for her guardians to harm her by preventing her from marrying anyone who wishes to marry her among the husbands who had previously been hers. The root meaning of the word rendered "prevent" is narrowness.