- Book of Ẓihār
When a husband says to his wife, “You are to me like my mother’s back,” she becomes unlawful for him: he may neither have intercourse with her nor touch or kiss her until he has made expiation for his ẓihār. Should he have intercourse before expiating, he must seek Allah’s forgiveness, and nothing is required of him beyond that original expiation; even so, he must not approach her again until he has performed it.
The “return” that makes expiation obligatory is his firm resolve to have intercourse with her.
If he says, “You are to me like my mother’s belly, thigh, or private part,” he has carried out ẓihār. The same applies if he likens her to any of his permanent maḥram women—those whom he may never lawfully look at with desire—such as his sister, paternal aunt, or foster-mother. Likewise, the ruling is the same if he says, “Your head is to me like my mother’s back,” or “your private part,” “your face,” “your neck,” “half of you,” or “one-third of you.”
If he declares, “You are to me like my mother,” the legal effect depends on his intention: • should he say, “I meant honour,” the statement carries that meaning; • if he says, “I meant ẓihār,” it is ẓihār; • if he says, “I meant divorce,” it is an irrevocable divorce. If he had no intention at all, the words have no legal consequence.
Ẓihār is valid only with respect to one’s wife; if it is pronounced over a female slave, it is of no effect. Whoever says to all his wives, “You are to me like my mother’s back,” has committed ẓihār regarding each of them and owes a separate expiation for every wife.
The expiation for ẓihār is to free a slave; if he cannot, he must fast two consecutive months; if he is unable, he must feed sixty poor persons. All of this must be completed before marital relations are resumed. Emancipation of any slave—Muslim or non-Muslim, male or female, young or old—meets the requirement. It is not met by freeing a blind slave or one whose two hands or two feet have been amputated.
It is acceptable to free a deaf slave, or one whose right hand and left foot (or left hand and right foot) have been amputated crosswise; it is not acceptable to free a slave whose two thumbs have been severed, nor an insane person who