to compel a separation—whether by khulʿ (redemptive dissolution) and faskh (annulment) or, failing that, by divorce—if reconciliation proves impossible between them. Among those who maintained that the husband may be forced to do so are Shaykh al-Islām, Ibn al-Qayyim, and Ibn Mufliḥ; it is even reported that some judges in Greater Syria, distinguished scholars from Jerusalem, actually enforced this ruling.

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm, however, adopted the position well known in the Ḥanbalī school, namely that the husband is not coerced into granting khulʿ. Yet the textual proofs of the sacred law favor compulsion when it is the only way to remove harm and discord. For the Prophet ﷺ said to Thābit ibn Qays, “Take back the garden and issue her a single divorce,” and he ﷺ declared, “No harm may be inflicted, nor reciprocated.”