as mentioned above: annulment, divorce in exchange for compensation, and a divorce that completes the prescribed number. Thus, her husband has no right to take her back without a new marriage contract.

The author said, “is permissible,” because some scholars hold that mourning is obligatory for a woman irrevocably separated from her husband, by analogy with a woman whose husband has died. They argue that the waiting period of each entails irrevocable separation; therefore, whatever applies to the woman whose husband has died also applies to the irrevocably divorced woman.

However, the established position in the school is that it is merely permissible for her. They say that analogy cannot stand against the text, for the hadith is explicit: “It is not lawful for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to mourn for anyone who dies for more than three days, except for her husband” (1)—that is, a deceased husband, not a husband in general. For the exception must be of the same category as that from which it is excepted. The preponderant view, therefore, is that she does not observe mourning.

If someone says: She may feel more distressed over a husband who has irrevocably separated from her than over his death,

we reply: This carries no legal weight.

His statement, “Nor is it obligatory for a revocably divorced woman,” means that the pronoun in “nor is it obligatory” refers to mourning; that is, mourning is not obligatory for a revocably divorced woman.

By “revocably divorced woman,” he means one whose husband has the right to take her back. She is a woman divorced after consummation, without compensation, before the number of divorces he possesses has been exhausted—that is, before completing the prescribed number. The author said, “is not obligatory,” in response to those who maintain that mourning is obligatory for a revocably divorced woman, because Allah says: “Do not