Among the Jews, whenever a woman had her menstruation, they would neither eat with her nor associate with her in their houses

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: "Among the Jews, whenever a woman had her menstruation, they would not eat with her": the Jews used to refrain from eating with their menstruating wives and from drinking after them from the same cup. They would not eat from the food they cooked because they considered them and their sweat to be impure during menstruation.

"Nor associate with her in their houses": they would not mix or live with a menstruating woman; rather, they would make her leave the house as mentioned in the report of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that was narrated by Abu Dawūd.

Upon knowing that the Jews abandoned their wives during their menstruation, the Companions asked the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him) about that. Thereupon, Allah, the Almighty, revealed the verse: {And they ask you about menstruation. Say, "It is harm, so keep away from wives during menstruation.} [Sūrat al-Baqarah: 222]

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do everything except intercourse." Hence, it is permissible according to the Shariah to mix with the menstruating wife, eat with her, drink with her, touch her, and lie down with her and everything else apart from having vaginal intercourse with her.

His statement "Do everything except intercourse" is a clarification of the generality in the verse, because 'keeping away' includes sexual relations, mixing, eating, drinking, and accompanying. However, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) clarified that the intended meaning here is to avoid sexual intercourse and nothing else.

When the Jews heard of that, they said: "This man does not want to leave anything we do without opposing us in it," i.e. the Jews learned that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) allowed his Companions to do everything with their wives during their menses except sexual intercourse. So they said that if he saw them doing something, he would order his followers to do the opposite and guide them to do the contrary since he was very eager to contradict them in everything.

"Usayd ibn Hudayr and ‘Abbād ibn Bishr came and said: O Messenger of Allah, the Jews say such-and-such, should we not have intercourse with them (our wives)?": Usayd ibn Hudayr and ‘Abbād ibn Bishr (may Allah be pleased with both of them) reported to the Prophet what the Jews said after they had heard that the Prophet opposed them, then they both asked the Prophet about the permissibility of having sexual intercourse with their wives during the menstruation period in order to oppose the Jews in every aspect.

"The face of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) underwent such a change": the Prophet did not approve of their Ijtihād (independent reasoning) in this issue; rather, he became angry and the signs of his anger were seen on his face, because their opinion opposed the Shariah as Allah, the Almighty, said: {Keep away from wives during menstruation} [Sūrat al-Baqarah: 222] and the Prophet had already clarified the meaning of 'keep away' in this verse, meaning that they were not entitled to have sexual intercourse with them.

"that we thought he was angry with them": we thought he was angry with them because of what they said.

"So they went out. They were met by a gift of milk which was being brought to the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and he sent after them and made them drink thereof": the two men left, but as they were leaving, someone who had a gift of milk for the Prophet met them on the way, and when he entered upon the Prophet, the Prophet sent someone after the two men to ask them to come back. When they came back, he gave them some milk to drink out of kindness and to show them that he was not angry with them.

"whereby they knew that he was not angry with them": he was not angry because they were excused for their good intention behind what they said: or because his anger with them did not last long which reflects his noble morals and his kindness with his Companions.