He replied:

It is authentically reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“May Allah curse the man who performs tahlīl and the man for whose benefit it is performed.”

It is also reported that he said:

“Shall I tell you about the borrowed billy goat?”

They said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.”

He said, “It is the man who performs tahlīl. May Allah curse the man who performs tahlīl and the man for whose benefit it is performed.”

The Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and those who followed them in righteousness agreed that this is forbidden. These included ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, and others. Some of them even said:

“They remain adulterers, even if they stay together for twenty years, if Allah knows that in his heart he intends to make her lawful for her former husband.”

Some of them said:

“No marriage is valid except one entered into out of genuine desire for marriage, not one entered into through deception.”

Some of them said:

“Whoever seeks to deceive Allah, Allah will deceive him.”

Some of them said:

“During the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, we used to regard it as illicit intercourse.”

All the imams who issued fatwas agreed that if tahlīl is stipulated in the marriage contract, the contract is invalid. Some of them, however, did not consider a prior stipulation or an established custom to have any legal effect, and treated the contract, despite this, as an ordinary marriage entered into out of genuine desire.

The Companions, their successors, and most imams who issued fatwas, however, made no distinction between this customary understanding and an express stipulation. This is the position of the scholars of Medina, the scholars of hadith, and others. And Allah knows best.

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was also asked:

If women seek to become lawful again for their former husbands by marrying a young male slave who has not reached puberty, does he count as a husband when he has no understanding of intercourse?