of the lesser degree; nevertheless, she remains a wife by scholarly agreement. If it is objected that she cannot give him the compensation on which the divorce is conditional, so the marriage continues, the reply is that he may likewise take back a revocably divorced wife, so the marriage continues.

The same applies if he says, “If you do not give birth this month, you are divorced,” when she has only one divorce remaining. Here, she remains his wife, and her marriage does not end unless the month passes without her giving birth, even though she is heading toward an irrevocable separation. The scholars disagree only over whether he may have intercourse with her, just as they disagree over intercourse with a revocably divorced wife.

If, however, the divorce is irrevocable, may he marry a fifth woman during the fourth wife’s waiting period, or marry a woman during her sister’s waiting period? This is a well-known point of disagreement among both the early and later scholars. Permissibility is the position of Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī, while prohibition is the position of Abū Hanīfa and Ahmad. And Allah knows best.