al-Moulakhas al-Fiqhi - Salih Al-Fawzan - (2/401)

al-Moulakhas al-FiqhiSalih Al-Fawzan

of His words: “Their husbands have the better right to take them back within that period” (2:228)—that is, during the waiting-period. The verse therefore indicates that once her waiting-period has ended she is not lawful to him except through a new marriage contract with all its conditions.

If, however, he takes her back during the waiting-period with a valid revocation that satisfies its requirements, he thereafter holds only whatever number of divorce pronouncements remain to him. Should he exhaust them all, she becomes forbidden to him until she has consummated marriage with another husband in a valid union. For her to become lawful again to the first husband three conditions must be met:

she must marry another man;
the marriage must be valid; and
the second husband must have intercourse with her in the vaginal canal.
This is based on Allah’s words: “If he divorces her, she is not lawful for him afterwards until she marries another husband. Then, if that husband divorces her, there is no blame upon the two of them if they return to one another, provided they think they can observe the limits set by Allah” (2:230).

Al-ʿAllāmah Ibn al-Qayyim said: “Her becoming lawful to him after she has married another is one of the greatest blessings. Under the Law of the Torah she could not return unless she remarried; under the Gospel divorce was absolutely forbidden. Our Sharia is more perfect and better attuned to human welfare: it allows a man four wives, permits him concubines as he wishes, and grants him the right to separate from his wife. If he later desires her again, he finds a way to take her back. Yet once he issues the third divorce, he has no means of reclaiming her except after a second husband marries her out of genuine desire for her.”

In other words, the second marriage must be a true marriage founded on real desire for her, not a contrived arrangement whose sole aim is to make her lawful for the first husband. Otherwise the second man is nothing but a “borrowed stud,” as the Prophet ﷺ called him; such a marriage is invalid and does not render her lawful for the first husband. Allah knows best.

قوله تعالى: ﴿وَبُعُولَتُهُنَّ أَحَقُّ بِرَدِّهِنَّ فِي ذَلِك﴾ ؛ أي: في العدة؛ فمفهوم الآية أنها إذا فرغت عدتها؛ لم تبح؛ إلا بعقد جديد بشرطه، وإذا راجعها في العدة رجعة صحيحة مستوفية لشروطها؛ لم يملك من الطلاق إلا ما بقي من عدده. وإذا استوفى ما يملك من الطلاق؛ حرمت عليه؛ حتى يطأها زوج غيره بنكاح صحيح؛ فيشترط لحلها للأول ثلاثة شروط: أن تنكح زوجا غيره، وأن يكون النكاح صحيحا، وأن يطأها الزوج الثاني في الفرج؛ لقوله تعالى: ﴿فَإِنْ طَلَّقَهَا فَلا تَحِلُّ لَهُ مِنْ بَعْدُ حَتَّى تَنْكِحَ زَوْجاً غَيْرَهُ فَإِنْ طَلَّقَهَا فَلا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا أَنْ يَتَرَاجَعَا إِنْ ظَنَّا أَنْ يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ اللَّهِ﴾ . قال العلامة ابن القيم: "وإباحتها له بعد زوج من أعظم النعم، وكانت شريعة التوارة ما لم تتزوج، وشريعة الإنجيل المنع من الطلاق ألبتة، وشرعيتنا أكمل وأقوم بمصالح العباد، فأباح له أربعا، وأن يتسرَّى بما شاء، وملكه أن يفارقها، فإن تاقت نفسه إليها؛ وجد السبيل إلى ردها، فإذا طلقها الثالثة؛ لم يبق له عليها سبيل بردها إلا بعد نكاح ثان رغبة" انتهى. أي: لا بد أن يكون نكاح الثاني لها نكاح رغبة فيها، لا نكاح حلية يقصد به تحليها للأول، وإلا كان تيس امستعارًا؛ كما سماه النبي ﷺ، ونكاحه باطل، لا تحل به للأول. والله أعلم.