divorcing her. Divorce is, in principle, something Allah dislikes; it is the most disliked of lawful things to Allah. He has permitted it only insofar as people need it, just as prohibited things may be permitted because of need. Thus, after the third divorce, He has forbidden her to him until she marries another husband, as a punishment intended to deter him from repeatedly divorcing her. Once he divorces her, she remains in the waiting period for three cycles, while he retains his marital rights over her: he inherits from her, and she inherits from him. He gains nothing by hastening divorce before its proper time, just as nothing is gained by anticipating the imam’s movements in prayer. Accordingly, whatever he does before the imam does not count; indeed, according to one of the two scholarly views, his prayer becomes invalid if he does so deliberately. Yet he still remains with the imam in prayer until the final salutation.
For this reason, most scholars have permitted khulʿ (marital dissolution in return for compensation) during menstruation. According to the jurists of the hadith tradition, it is not divorce but an irrevocable separation. According to one of their two views, her freedom from pregnancy is established by a single menstrual period, and she has no prescribed waiting period. This is also one of the two positions reported from Ahmad. Moreover, through khulʿ she gains control over her own marital affairs, so both spouses benefit from hastening the irrevocable separation to end the harm between them. This differs from revocable divorce, which offers no benefit when hastened before its proper time; rather, that brings harm without any good.
It has also been said:
“Such a divorce occurs when he feels no desire for her and may have no need to divorce her. By contrast, divorce at a time when he desires her can only be prompted by need.”
Scholars have differed over what the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, intended by his instruction in Ibn ʿUmar’s case: “Tell him to take her back.” One group of scholars understood this to mean that the divorce had taken effect, so he was instructed to take her back and then, if he wished, divorce her during a period of purity. There was also disagreement