“The point” here is that this period does not become multiple, and we know of no one who has said that it does. If anyone has said so, the Sunnah refutes him, for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, required only that it be ascertained that she was not pregnant, saying:

“A pregnant woman must not be approached for intercourse until she gives birth, nor a woman who is not pregnant until it has been ascertained that she is not pregnant.”

He thus made the permissibility of intercourse dependent solely on ascertaining that she was not pregnant, without drawing any distinction. Since the period for ascertaining non-pregnancy is of the same kind as the prescribed waiting period, and does not become multiple because several men have had intercourse with her, the prescribed waiting period is likewise. This is the argument that may be advanced in support of Abū Hanīfa, may Allah have mercy on him.

The majority, however, said that the prescribed waiting period involves a human right. They cited the words of the Most High:

“When you marry believing women and then divorce them before you have touched them, you have no waiting period to count against them. So provide for them…”

They said: Allah has thus denied that men have any right to require a waiting period of women in this situation. Nor is there a waiting period here owed to anyone other than the men. It therefore follows that, wherever the waiting period is obligatory, it involves a right belonging to men. Otherwise, denying that men have a right to require a waiting period would not rule out a waiting period owed to Allah. If the waiting period were exclusively a right of Allah, He would not have said:

“You have no waiting period to count against them.”

For men would have no right to a waiting period, whether in this situation or any other. Moreover, if there were two kinds of waiting period—one owed to Allah and another involving a right belonging to husbands—then negating the waiting period owed to husbands would not negate the other waiting period. The Quran therefore indicates that, wherever a waiting period is obligatory, it involves a right belonging to husbands.

Accordingly, if the waiting period involves rights belonging to two men, the right of one cannot be subsumed under that of the other, for human rights do not overlap. This is like two men each being owed a debt by one person, or having property in his possession that he holds in trust or has wrongfully appropriated: he must give each person what is rightfully his. This is the position stated by the majority of the followers of al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad, and others.