They have also cited the hadith containing the following exchange:

“My wife does not repel the hand of anyone who touches her.” He said, “Divorce her.” The man said, “I love her.” He replied, “Then enjoy her company.”

This hadith was reported by al-Nasā’ī. Ahmad and others graded it weak, so it cannot serve as evidence against the Quran and Sunnah. Even if it were authentic, its meaning would not be explicit. Some interpret “one who touches” as someone asking for money, but this interpretation is weak. Rather, the expression may refer to someone who touches her with his hand without having intercourse with her. Some women display their charms and do not recoil when a man looks at them or places his hand on them, yet do not allow him to have intercourse with them. Marriage to such a woman is disliked. Hence, he instructed the man to separate from her, but did not require him to do so when he mentioned that he loved her. She had not committed unlawful sexual intercourse, but had sinned by engaging in some of the acts leading to it.

This is why he said, “She does not repel the hand of anyone who touches her,” specifying touching with the hand alone. When the words “touching” and “mutual touching” mean intercourse, they are not restricted to the hand. When touching is expressly associated with the hand, however, it is like the words of Allah Most High:

“Even if We had sent down to you a written scripture on parchment, and they had touched it with their hands.”

Moreover, a woman who commits unlawful sexual intercourse after marriage is not like one who marries while already engaging in it. An existing marriage has a stronger claim to validity than a marriage being initiated. A state of prohibition or a waiting period prevents initiating a marriage, but not continuing it. Thus, if there were evidence from revelation establishing that a woman who commits unlawful sexual intercourse after the marriage contract need not be divorced, such intercourse would be treated like the waiting period: it would prevent initiating a marriage, but not continuing it. This would reconcile the two pieces of evidence.

If it is asked, “What is meant by His words, ‘None marries her except a man guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse or an idolater’?” the answer is: If the man marrying her is a Muslim, he is guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse; if he is not a Muslim, he is a disbeliever. If he believes in the prohibition brought by the Messenger yet does this, he is guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse. If he does not believe in what the Messenger brought, he is an idolater, as was their practice in the pre-Islamic era: they would marry