al-Baqara 2:234-235 — The waiting period and "veiled speech"

"Those of you who die and leave wives behind — they wait by themselves four months and ten days."

Here too the term is definite. And when the term is out, the ruling is plainly lifted: fa-lā junāḥa ʿalaykum fīmā faʿalna fī anfusihinna bi'l-maʿrūf — there is no fault upon you in what they do about themselves after the term.

وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِيمَا عَرَّضْتُم بِهِۦ مِنْ خِطْبَةِ ٱلنِّسَآءِ — taʿrīḍ: veiled, indirect speech. Root ع-ر-ض — the same root as ʿurḍa at verse 224: to come crosswise, to be indirect.

While forbidding an open offer of marriage during the waiting period, the verse leaves veiled speech free: wa lākin lā tuwāʿidūhunna sirran illā an taqūlū qawlan maʿrūfā.

This distinction is fine and realistic: a person is not asked to suppress his intention altogether; the intention's turning into a binding word is what is prevented.

وَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِىٓ أَنفُسِكُمْ فَٱحْذَرُوهُ — and it is recalled that what passes within is known. And immediately after: waʿlamū anna'llāha ghafūrun ḥalīm — that He is forgiving and ḥalīm (not hasty).

Two sentences one after another: a warning and a widening. This is the general balance of the section.