Likewise, regarding an oath to abstain from marital intercourse, the position of the scholars of Medina, the jurists versed in hadith, and others is that, once four months have elapsed, the husband must either resume marital relations or divorce his wife. This is what is transmitted from more than ten Companions, and both the Quran and established legal principles support it in several ways. The Kufan scholars, however, hold that the resolve to divorce is established by the expiry of the waiting period: if it expires without his resuming marital relations, she is divorced. At most, this is reported from Ibn Masʿūd—if the report from him is authentic.

There is also the question of taking a wife back through an action: if a man divorces his wife, does intercourse constitute taking her back? There are three positions. The first is that it does, as Abū Hanīfa holds. The second is that it does not, as al-Shāfiʿī holds. The third is that it does if accompanied by the intention to take her back. This is the well-known position of Mālik, and it is the most balanced of the three positions within Ahmad’s school.

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As for punishments and judicial rulings, the school of the scholars of Medina is stronger than that of the Kufan scholars in several respects.

First, they require execution in retaliation for killing with a heavy object, as established by the Sunnah and supported by legal principles. Indeed, Mālik went further still, denying the category of accidental killing resembling