of lying.
- The ḥadith of Ibn ʿAbbās was transmitted by Ibn Mājah, traced back to the Prophet ﷺ, through the chain of Zamʿah ibn Ṣāliḥ → Salamah ibn Wahrām → ʿIkrimah → Ibn ʿAbbās. Both Zamʿah and Salamah are weak narrators.
These narrations all convey the same purport; some are sound, others weak, yet their weakness is mild. Taken together through their various routes, they corroborate the authenticity of what has been established in this chapter. This is a concise summary from Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl by al-Albānī.
Because of its soundness, the ḥadith was cited as evidence by Ibn Ḥazm, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, the ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar, al-Ṣanʿānī, al-Shawkānī, and many others.
Key terms in the ḥadith
• al-muḥallil (active participle, with a kasrah on the lām): the man who seeks to “render lawful” in a situation where lawfulness would not otherwise be achieved.
• al-muḥallal lahu (passive participle, with a fatḥah on the lām): the first husband for whom the facilitation is undertaken. Nikāḥ al-taḥlīl (the “facilitation marriage”) is when the muḥallil marries a woman who has become irrevocably divorced, on the condition that once he makes her lawful for the first husband he will divorce her.
Points derived from the ḥadith
- Nikāḥ al-taḥlīl is when a man marries a woman who has been divorced three times on the stipulation that, after making her lawful for her first husband, he will divorce her.
- Al-Tirmidhī said: “The scholars act upon this ḥadith, and it is the position of the jurists among the Successors,” citing the report recorded by al-Ḥākim and Ibn Mājah from ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Shall I tell you about the borrowed goat?” They replied, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He said, “It is the muḥallil. May Allah curse the muḥallil and the muḥallal lahu.”
- The ḥadith establishes that taḥlīl is forbidden, and a prohibition entails invalidity. Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn (Ibn Taymiyyah) said: “There is consensus on the prohibition of the facilitation marriage.”