three times. Although she cannot return to him except through a new marriage contract, the bond of marriage and its effects still remain upon her, namely the waiting period. The correct view is that this matter requires further detail:

If she is observing a waiting period following an irrevocable major separation—such as a woman divorced three times—then she is not lawful for her former husband unless she has married another man. He may therefore marry her sister, because his wife has been irrevocably separated from him by a major separation.

But if the divorce is revocable, or if it constitutes an irrevocable minor separation, then her sister is not lawful for him. A revocably divorced woman is one whom her husband divorces once after consummation of the marriage, without compensation. A woman irrevocably separated by a minor separation is one whose husband has divorced her by khulʿ; it is called a minor separation because the husband who divorced her by khulʿ may marry her during her waiting period or after it. As for an irrevocable major separation, it is the separation resulting from three divorces. Accordingly, women observing a waiting period fall into three categories:

The first is the revocably divorced woman: the woman observing a waiting period whom he may take back without a marriage contract.

The second is the woman irrevocably separated by a minor separation: one whom he may marry through a new marriage contract, rather than by taking her back. That is, he has no right to take her back, but he may enter into a new marriage contract with her. Thus, every woman observing a waiting period who is not lawful to him except through a new marriage contract has undergone an irrevocable minor separation.

The third is the woman irrevocably separated by a major separation: one whom he divorced for the final, third time. She is not lawful to him unless she has married another man, subject to the well-known conditions.

The point is that the apparent meaning of the author’s words is that the sister of a woman observing a waiting period because of him is forbidden to him, whether her divorce is revocable, an irrevocable minor separation, or an irrevocable major separation.

The correct view, however, is that if she has undergone an irrevocable major separation, her sister is lawful for him, because he has no possibility of taking back the woman irrevocably separated from him by a major separation.