and how could he make the divorce of a woman whom he has not married contingent? Allah, Exalted is He, says:

“O believers! When you marry believing women and then divorce them...” [al-Ahzab 33:49]

Thus, He places divorce after marriage. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The son of Adam has no divorce concerning that which he does not own.” (1) Moreover, divorce is the dissolution of an existing marital bond, whereas a woman is unbound before he marries her.

Accordingly, if someone says, “Any woman I marry is divorced,” and then marries a woman, she is not divorced, because he made divorce contingent before marrying her.

Likewise, if he says, “If I marry so-and-so, she is divorced,” then marries her, she is not divorced. And if, addressing a woman, he says, “If I marry you, you are divorced,” then marries her, she is not divorced.

This is clear where no one else’s right is involved. But if another person’s right is involved—for example, if he marries a woman on the condition that, should he marry another woman in addition to her, that other woman will be divorced—such as when she fears that he will take another wife and says, “I stipulate that you do not marry another woman in addition to me; and if you do marry another woman in addition to me, she is divorced”—then the apparent position of our jurists is that the divorce does not take effect, because it is making something contingent before he possesses it. This may have secured the wife’s approval, but if he does marry the other woman, she is not divorced. Even if the first wife becomes upset with him, he is not required to divorce her, since the basic principle is that the first wife has no right to prevent him from marrying again; she therefore cannot compel him to do so. Nor does she have the right to seek divorce if he does not divorce the new wife.