Ibn al-Qayyim said, “ʿUmar’s ruling is the soundest of all the views and the one that best accords with legal analogy. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah added, ‘That is the correct position.’”

Once her waiting period is over, the woman becomes lawful for new suitors; she does not need a divorce pronouncement to be issued on her absent husband’s behalf after completing the widow’s ʿiddah. If she marries another man and her first husband then returns, the stronger view is that the first husband is given a choice: either reclaim her or let the second marriage stand and take back his wife’s bridal dowry (mahr). This ruling applies whether he reappears before or after the second husband has consummated the marriage.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) further said, “The sound position on the wife of the missing man is that of ʿUmar and the other Companions: she waits four years, then observes the widow’s waiting period, after which she may marry. She is thereafter the lawful wife of the second man, both outwardly and inwardly. Should her first husband come back after her remarriage, he is given the choice between taking back his wife or accepting the mahr; there is no difference whether consummation has occurred or not. This is the apparent stance of Imam Aḥmad.” He concluded, “Granting the choice between the woman and the dowry is the most equitable ruling.”