and his prohibition of fasting on either of the two Eid days, and the like.

The answer is:

There is no doubt that the act is physically conceivable. This is like his prohibition of marrying mothers and daughters, and of selling wine, carrion, pork, and idols. As reported in the two Sahīh collections from Jābir, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah has forbidden the sale of wine, carrion, pigs, and idols.” He was asked: “O Messenger of Allah, what about the fat of carrion? It is used to coat ships and treat hides, and people burn it in their lamps.” He replied: “No, it is forbidden.” Then he said: “May Allah destroy the Jews! Fat was forbidden to them, so they melted it down, sold it, and consumed its proceeds.”

His calling such an act a marriage or a sale did not prevent it from being defective and invalid; it merely indicated that it was physically possible.

As for someone saying, “It is recognized by the Sharia”: if he means that it bears the name the Lawgiver gave it, that is correct. If he means that Allah has permitted it, that contradicts the revealed text and scholarly consensus. If he means that Allah has attached its legal effects to it, made it achieve its intended purpose, and made those effects binding upon people, as with a permissible act, then this is false by consensus in most of the cases involved in the dispute. Nor can he establish that claim in a case on which there is consensus. What these people chiefly invoke is the Prophet’s prohibition, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, of divorce during menstruation and similar matters that are themselves disputed. They therefore have no instance in which their contention has been established, either by a revealed text or by consensus.

Likewise, the accursed “man who makes her lawful again” was cursed because, through his marriage contract, he intended to make her lawful for her former husband—not because he actually made her lawful. For if he had married her out of a genuine desire for marriage, he would have made her lawful for her former husband by consensus; yet such a man is not accursed, also by consensus.