or my mother-in-law, or such-and-such an unrelated woman, or so-and-so and the like; in every case he has performed ẓihār, just as if he had said, “You are forbidden to me.”

It is valid whether uttered outright or made conditional, whether in unrestricted form (1) or for a fixed period.
Before the expiation is paid, it is unlawful for the man who pronounced ẓihār to have intercourse with her or to engage in anything that leads to it, and the expiation does not become definitively due until he resumes marital relations—that is, until he actually has intercourse.

If, with a single utterance, he makes ẓihār concerning several of his wives, one expiation suffices, just as one expiation suffices when he repeats the formula regarding the same wife before atoning. But if he issues separate utterances, an expiation is required for each one.

Section

The expiation consists of emancipating a believing slave who is free of defects that impede work, provided (2) he owns such a slave—or its price—in excess of what he and those he supports need for housing, a servant, a riding animal, clothing even for adornment, books of knowledge, payment of debts, and the capital necessary for all of that (3).

It is not acceptable to free a blind slave, one whose hand or foot is paralyzed or amputated, one missing the little and ring fingers—or any other finger (4)—nor a slave suffering from a terminal illness, nor an umm walad.

If he cannot do so, he must fast two consecutive lunar months, and the sequence is not considered broken if Ramadan or the Festival of Breaking the Fast occurs in the interim.