They also argued against Abū Hanīfa on the basis of his own position:

“If a Muslim marries a non-Muslim woman under Muslim protection, she must observe the waiting period solely as a right owed to her husband, since she is not held accountable for rights owed to Allah. Hence he does not require her to observe it if her husband is also a non-Muslim under Muslim protection and they do not believe that the waiting period is obligatory.”

This argument that the majority advanced against him is sound. It accords with what the Quran indicates and with the judgments of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, especially since no contrary position has been established from anyone else. Even if a contrary position were established, when others disagree with the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the caliphs’ position carries greater weight, for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after me. Hold fast to it and bite onto it with your molar teeth. Beware of newly introduced matters, for every innovation is misguidance.”

Yet for the waiting period to constitute a right of the husband in the full sense, he must have a right over the woman during it—namely, the right to take her back. As the Most High said:

“Divorced women must wait for three cycles. It is not lawful for them to conceal what Allah has created in their wombs, if they believe in Allah and the Last Day. And their husbands have a greater right to take them back during that period.”

He thus commanded women to wait and gave the husband the greater right to take his wife back during that waiting period. Every divorce mentioned in the Quran is revocable, except the third divorce mentioned in His words:

“If he divorces her, she is not lawful to him thereafter until she marries another husband.”

That divorce makes her unlawful to him: she cannot become lawful to him merely through a marriage contract concluded with her consent and that of her guardian. How, then, could she become lawful through his taking her back?

As for a woman who may lawfully return to her husband during the waiting period, her husband has the greater right to take her back during it without a marriage contract. The Quran contains no irrevocable divorce whereby she may become lawful to him through a marriage contract while he has no greater right to her. Rather, whenever she is lawful to him, he has the greater right to her.