The marriage is not dissolved merely by the expiry of the waiting-period; rather, the woman remains at liberty: if she so chooses she may marry someone else, and if she prefers she may wait—whenever it may be—for her husband to enter Islam. She is still deemed his wife so long as she has not taken another husband. This view carries considerable weight and is supported by juristic reasoning, and Allah, exalted is He, knows best.

Support for this position is found in what al-Bukhārī recorded (1) under the heading, “The marriage of those women who embraced Islam from among the idolaters and the length of their waiting-periods.” He said: Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā related to us; Hishām related to us from Ibn Jurayj; and ʿAṭāʾ reported on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās:

“The idolaters stood in two ranks vis-à-vis the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the believers: there were the polytheists at war, who fought him and whom he fought, and the polytheists bound by a covenant, who neither fought him nor did he fight them. When a woman from the people at war emigrated, she was not courted until she had menstruated and become pure; once she was pure, marriage became lawful for her. If her husband emigrated before she had married, she was returned to him. If one of their male or female slaves emigrated, he or she became free and enjoyed the same rights as the Emigrants.” He then mentioned, concerning those bound by treaty, a report similar to that of Mujāhid. This is the wording verbatim.

His statement, “When a woman from the people at war emigrated she was not proposed to until she menstruated and became pure,” implies that she was required only to clear herself with one menstrual cycle, not to observe three courses. Some scholars have adopted this view.

And his statement, “If her husband emigrates before she marries she is returned to him,” implies that even if he emigrates after the period of istibrāʾ and the ʿiddah have elapsed, she may still be returned to her first husband so long as she has not married another. This is what is apparent from the story of Zaynab, daughter of the Prophet ﷺ, and it is the position upheld by certain jurists. Allah knows best.

Section: Poems composed about the great Battle of Badr

Among them are the lines cited by Ibn Isḥāq (2)—though Ibn Hishām rejected them—attributed to Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib:

Have you not seen a marvel among the wonders of time?
For ruin has causes that lay the matter bare.

It came about only because a people, once enriched,
Betrayed each other with defiance and unbelief.

On the evening they marched toward Badr with their host,
They became hostages at Badr’s water-pit.

We had set out for the caravan and sought nothing else,
Yet they pressed upon us and we met by decree.

When we closed ranks there was no second thought—
Only the thrust of polished, dark-shafted spears,

And strokes of gleaming blades that severed heads,
Their colours flashing, their marks unmistakable.

We left ʿUtbah of error stretched lifeless,
And Shaybah among the slain, cast into the pit.

ʿAmr lay slain among those champions who fell,
And mourning women rent their collars for ʿAmr—

Women of Lu’ayy ibn Ghālib, noble ladies,
Their braids proud of the stock of Fihr.

They were a people cut down in their delusion,
Abandoning a banner bereft of victory.