, the son of Mary, or the emergence of the Antichrist, he is deemed to have made ʿilāʾ in every one of these situations. The same ruling applies if he makes the oath contingent on her committing something forbidden or abandoning an obligation—for example, “By Allah, I will not approach you until you quit the prayer,” or “until you drink wine.” In such a case he is still a mu lī, because he has tied the oath to something religiously prohibited, which is akin to tying it to a physical impossibility.

In all these circumstances the four-month limit of ʿilāʾ is imposed, in keeping with the Almighty’s words: “For those who swear abstinence from their wives there is a waiting period of four months” (Qur’an 2:226).

In the Ṣaḥīḥ it is related from Ibn ʿUmar that he said, “When four months have elapsed for a man who has sworn to a term longer than that, he is a mu lī; he is detained until he pronounces divorce, and divorce does not take effect until he actually pronounces it.” Al-Bukhārī transmitted this report from about a dozen Companions.

Sulaymān ibn Yasār said, “I met about a dozen of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, and all of them would detain the mu lī.” This is the position adopted by the scholars, and it is also the clear implication of the noble verse.

Accordingly, once four months have passed since his oath—excluding the days during which the wife has a valid excuse—then, if he has intercourse with his wife, he has effected the return (fayʾ), for fayʾ in this context is intercourse,