of the same kind as Hārūt and Mārūt. She must not be obeyed in this, even if she prays against her daughter—unless, of course, the couple are acting together in disobedience, or the husband commands the daughter to disobey Allah while her mother commands her to obey Allah and His Messenger, as every Muslim is obliged to do.

He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

A man intended to divorce his wife when she menstruated, but did not pronounce a divorce. When she menstruated, he believed that she had become divorced merely through his intention, so he told the witnesses, “I divorced my wife.”

They asked, “When did you divorce her?”

He replied, “The day before yesterday,” on the basis of that belief.

After two menstrual periods had passed, apart from the period during which he thought she had been divorced, the witnesses married her to another man. She stayed with him, and then he divorced her. After she completed her waiting period, her first husband wanted to take her back. Is she lawful for him under the original marriage contract, or is a new contract required?

He answered:

Praise be to Allah. If he merely intended to divorce her when she menstruated, no divorce takes effect through that, by agreement of the scholars. Rather, he must actually pronounce the divorce afterward; if he does not, no divorce takes effect.

If he believed that this intention constituted a divorce and therefore acknowledged that he had divorced her through that intention, no divorce takes effect in reality through this acknowledgment, although he is held to it in judicial proceedings. If no divorce has taken effect thereby, she remains his wife in reality. And Allah knows best.