His statement, “Reconciliation is valid,” means that a man may take back a wife whom he has divorced with a revocable divorce.

For example, a man enters ihram for ‘umrah or Hajj while he has divorced his wife with a revocable divorce. If he wishes to take her back, there is nothing wrong with that: the reconciliation is valid and also permissible.

Thus, we distinguish here between initiating a marriage and continuing one. Reconciliation is not called a contract; rather, it is a return. Moreover, continuation is stronger than initiation. Consider perfume: it is permissible for a person in ihram—indeed, recommended for him—to apply perfume at the time he enters ihram, so that he enters ihram while the perfume remains on the places where it was applied. But if he wishes to apply perfume anew, that is not permissible, because continuation is stronger than initiation. Thus, in the prohibitions of ihram, we have two subsidiary rulings based on this principle:

First: perfume—he may retain what he has already applied, but may not apply it anew.

Second: marriage—he may continue it, but may not initiate it.

“If a person in ihram has intercourse before the first stage of release, their pilgrimage rites are invalidated; they must continue with them and make them up the following year, …”

His statement, “If a person in ihram has intercourse before the first stage of release”: this is the eighth of the prohibitions of ihram, namely sexual intercourse. It is the gravest of them in sin and has the greatest effect upon the rites.

None of the prohibitions of ihram invalidates the rites except intercourse before the first stage of release. This differs from the rest of the acts of worship: in other acts of worship, any prohibited act committed during them invalidates them, except in Hajj and ‘umrah. This is contrary to the view of the Zahiris, who say that all the prohibitions invalidate Hajj and ‘umrah. This is a type of analogy which they themselves reject, and it is an unsound analogy in opposition to the textual evidence. The textual evidence is that Allah permitted a person in ihram who has an ailment of the head to shave his head without