I sat in a gathering that included a number of prominent men from the Ansar, among them Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Layla. I mentioned the hadith of Abdullah bin Utbah concerning Subayah bint Harith.Abdul-Rahman said, "But his uncle did not say that."I replied, "I would be reckless indeed if I lied about a man on the outskirts of Kufa," and I raised my voice.Then I left, and I met Malik bin Amir, or Malik bin Awf.I asked, "What was Ibn Masud's view regarding a woman whose husband has died while she is pregnant?"He said, Ibn Masud said, "Do you impose on her the stricter ruling and deny her the concession? The shorter Surah of an-Nisa was revealed after the longer one."
جلست إلى مجلس فيه عظم من الأنصار، وفيهم عبد الرحمن بن أبي ليلى، فذكرت حديث عبد الله بن عتبة في شأن سبيعة بنت الحارث. فقال عبد الرحمن: ولكن عمه كان لا يقول ذلك فقلت: إني لجرئ إن كذبت على رجل في جانب الكوفة، ورفع صوته، قال: ثم خرجت، فلقيت مالك بن عامر أو مالك بن عوف. قلت: كيف كان قول ابن مسعود في المتوفى عنها زوجها. وهي حامل؟ فقال: قال ابن مسعود: أتجعلون عليها التغليظ، ولا تجعلون لها الرخصة؟ لنزلت سورة النساء القصرى بعد الطولى.
Bukhari related it in the tafsir (4532) from Habban, who said, Abdullah narrated to us, Abdullah bin Awn informed us, from Muhammad bin Sirin, and he mentioned it. He also cited it as a suspended report in the tafsir of Surah Talaq (4910), where he said, "his uncle did not used to say that."What is meant by "his uncle" is Abdullah bin Masud. It was not Subayah bint Harith who used to say this. However, this report from him is not sahih, for Ibn Masud used to hold the opposite view. Perhaps he held this view at first and later retracted it, or else the one transmitting from him made a mistake. This is what Ibn Hajar said.As for his saying "the shorter Surah Nisa," he means Surah Talaq. And his saying "after the longer one" means after Surah Baqarah. For in Surah Baqarah it says, "Those who die among you and leave wives behind, they shall wait four months and ten [days]" [Baqarah 2:234], while in Surah Talaq it says, "And for those who are pregnant, their term is until they deliver their burden" [Talaq 65:4]. Ibn Masud's point was that abrogation had taken place, so the later verse is the abrogator.This is what Ibn Masud refers to when he says, "Whoever wishes, I will take a mutual oath with him that the shorter Surah Nisa was revealed after [the ruling of] the four months and ten days." Here "mutual oath" means the same as the mutual invocation of a curse to prove one's truthfulness. Abu Dawud (2307) and Ibn Majah (2030) narrated this with a sahih chain of transmission.Ibn Hajar said, "Otherwise, the correct view is that there is no abrogation here, rather the general wording of the verse in Baqarah is qualified by the verse in Talaq." Fath al-Bari (8/656).