he sends his wife or slave woman out of his house and is told, “Return to her,” meaning, “Bring her back.” Similarly, in the hadith of ʿAlī, it says, “when he resumed commanding what was right.” And in ʿUmar’s letter to Abū Mūsā: “And return to the truth, for the truth is ancient.”

The term murājaʿa implies reciprocal action. Revoking a divorce, however, is something the husband can do independently, merely by his words, so the term murājaʿa is hardly ever used for it. This differs from his bringing the woman physically back to him and her returning voluntarily: the two have then returned to one another, just as they return to one another through a marriage contract by mutual choice after she has married another husband.

The terms used for revoking divorce are radd (“returning”) and imsāk (“keeping”). They are also used for maintaining an existing marriage, as in the words of Allah Most High:

“And when you said to the one whom Allah had favored and you had favored, ‘Keep your wife.’”

No divorce had occurred in that case. Allah Most High also says:

“Divorce is twice; then either retain her on fair terms or release her with kindness.”

Here, retaining her means taking her back after divorce. The husband can revoke the divorce independently, and he is instructed to have this witnessed. Yet the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not instruct Ibn ʿUmar to have witnesses. He said, “Tell him to take her back,” using falyurājiʿhā, and did not say liyartajiʿhā.

Furthermore, had the divorce taken effect, taking her back in order to divorce her during the first or second period of purity would have imposed an additional burden and harm on her and increased the number of disliked divorces. There would have been no benefit in this for either of them. Rather, if the divorce had taken effect, his taking her back in order to divorce her a second time would have caused additional harm. He did not forbid him to divorce her; rather, he permitted him to do so at the beginning of