a long time elapses or she is called upon to decide and refuses Islam—which is the apparent meaning of Ibn al-Qāsim’s position—then the zihār takes effect concerning her, and if he marries her after she embraces Islam, he may not approach her until he has offered expiation. If, however, you say that her status at that time remains pending, so that she can be described neither as his wife nor as no longer his wife, then the zihār does not take effect concerning her. As for saying that the husband’s conversion to Islam means that she is no longer his wife, as Ibn Yūnus explained Ashhab’s position, this is incorrect for the reasons already given.

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I have seen some scholars of Kairouan maintain that if a man pronounces zihār concerning a slave woman with whom he has contracted manumission, and she subsequently defaults on that contract, the zihār becomes binding upon him by analogy with this case. The same view was also expressed concerning a man who pronounces zihār concerning a slave woman whose emancipation he has deferred to a specified date, or a slave woman in whom he owns a share, and then marries her after her emancipation. This is a manifest error, because a woman under a contract of manumission, one whose emancipation is deferred to a specified date, and one in whom he owns a share are not among his women: they are neither women lawfully available to him through ownership nor his wives. Allah says:

“Those who pronounce zihār concerning their wives” [al-Mujādila: 3].

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Zihār is not divorce, but it resembles divorce in certain respects and an oath by Allah to abstain from intercourse in others. It resembles divorce in that it may take effect either through an oath or without one, and in that qualifying it with “if Allah wills” has no effect—unless it takes the form of an oath and, according to one of the two opinions, the qualification refers to the act.

It resembles an oath by Allah to abstain from intercourse in that its restriction is lifted by expiation before intercourse, and in that expiation becomes obligatory when the oath is broken through intercourse. Nevertheless, doing so is prohibited in the case of zihār according to the correct opinion, unlike an oath by Allah to abstain from intercourse. There is no disagreement that breaking an oath by Allah Most High before offering expiation is permissible; the disagreement concerns only whether expiation may be offered before the oath is broken.