al-Baqara 2:236-237 — Divorce before the marriage

"There is no responsibility upon you if you divorce women before touching them or before fixing a dower for them. But provide for them — the one of ample means according to his measure, the one of straitened means according to his."

مَتِّعُوهُنَّ — matāʿ: what is enjoyed. Even where no obligation has arisen in law, a return is asked for.

And the measure is tied to the person's circumstances: ʿala'l-mūsiʿi qadaruhu wa ʿala'l-muqtiri qadaruhu. No fixed amount is laid down.

وَأَن تَعْفُوٓا۟ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ — "that you forgo is nearer to taqwā."

After laying down the ruling that half the dower is to be given, verse 237 opens a way for both sides to forgo, and enters this clause: وَلَا تَنسَوُا۟ ٱلْفَضْلَ بَيْنَكُمْ — "do not forget the faḍl between you."

فَضْل: what is over and above, a bounty. It is recalled, that is, that there is a field beyond the share the law assigns.

This is the line repeated throughout the section on divorce: the rulings are laid down in detail, but beside every ruling a door of widening is left — iḥsān (229), maʿrūf (231, 232), tarāḍī and tashāwur (233), ʿafw and faḍl (237).