, then divorce them at the commencement of their waiting period and keep count of the waiting period,” down to His words:

“You do not know; perhaps Allah will bring about a new situation thereafter.”

“Then, when they approach the end of their waiting period, either retain them honourably or part with them honourably.”

This applies only to revocable divorce.

His words:

“Then divorce them at the commencement of their waiting period”

indicate that it is impermissible to follow one divorce with another until the waiting period has ended or the husband has taken his wife back. For He permitted divorce only in relation to the waiting period—that is, at its commencement. Whenever a husband pronounces a second and third divorce before taking his wife back, she continues the existing waiting period rather than beginning it anew, as the overwhelming majority of Muslims agree. If there is an anomalous dissenting view on this matter from Khilās and Ibn Hazm, we have explained its invalidity elsewhere.

This is a weak position. In the early days of Islam, when a man wished to harm his wife, he would divorce her, then take her back just as her waiting period was about to end, and then divorce her again to prolong her confinement. Had she been required to begin the waiting period anew without his taking her back, there would have been no need for him to take her back. Allah, Exalted is He, limited them to three divorces to prevent this harm, as the transmitted reports relate. This indicates that it was an established ruling with Allah that the waiting period does not begin anew without the husband taking his wife back—whether because a divorce pronounced before taking her back does not take effect, or because it takes effect without requiring a new waiting period.

Ibn Hazm required a new waiting period only on the grounds that divorce must mark the commencement of a waiting period, so that every divorce after consummation must be followed by a waiting period, as the Quran indicates. On that basis, he was committed to this unsound position.

Those who adhere to what the Quran entails and what the transmitted reports indicate, however, say: The divorce Allah prescribed is one followed by a waiting period during which the husband has the choice of retaining his wife honourably or releasing her graciously. These conditions are absent when three divorces are pronounced during the waiting period before taking her back; therefore, this cannot