Alī likewise ruled that the second man may not marry her until her waiting period on his account has ended. This is also the apparent position of Ahmad’s school. According to al-Shāfiʿī, however, the second man may marry her during her waiting period on his account, just as a man who has intercourse with a woman under a mistaken belief of lawfulness may marry her during her waiting period on his account. Likewise, anyone who has contracted an invalid marriage with a woman may marry her during her waiting period on his account. There are two reported views from Ahmad on this underlying issue.

“The first” is that this is not permissible. This is Mālik’s position, intended to distinguish semen deposited through intercourse under a mistaken belief of lawfulness from semen deposited through entirely lawful intercourse.

“The second” is that it is permissible, as al-Shāfiʿī holds, because paternity is established in both cases. On the basis of this reported view, some of Ahmad’s followers permitted the second man to marry her during her waiting period on his account, as al-Shāfiʿī holds, just as this reported view permits marriage to any woman observing a waiting period arising from an invalid marriage.

Others disputed his explicit ruling and said concerning this case:

He used to mention in her case a waiting period on account of the first intercourse. She did not begin observing her waiting period on account of this second man immediately after he separated from her. Rather, the waiting period on account of the first man intervened between the second man’s separation from her and her waiting period on his account. She was obliged to observe two waiting periods on account of the two men. The first man’s waiting period took precedence only because his right arose earlier. Otherwise, had she given birth to a child whose paternity was attributed to the second man, the second man’s waiting period would have preceded that of the first. Thus, during her waiting period on account of the first man, the second man still has a right over her; and while she is observing the waiting period