does not imply that the word cannot bear any other meaning.

The second reason—and the decisive one—is that these expressions occur in the Quran mostly in senses other than divorce. For example, Allah says:

“When you marry believing women and then divorce them before you have touched them, you have no waiting period to count for them. So provide for them and release them.”

Here, after an irrevocable divorce involving no waiting period, there is a command to release them and provide for them. This does not mean pronouncing a second divorce, for, by agreement, such a divorce neither takes effect nor is commanded. Rather, it means actually letting the woman go: ceasing to keep her confined. Marriage entails union through marital right and legal status, as well as physical, practical union through keeping the wife with the husband. Both are consequences of marriage and necessarily accompany one another. When the marital right ceases, the husband is commanded to relinquish his control. This is comparable to the distinction between ownership and possession in matters of property: in both cases, possession follows from the contract. Thus, if the contract is terminated, either by relinquishing control, which constitutes possession.

His words:

“Then come: I will provide for you and release you”

cannot be used as evidence that “release” means divorce. He may mean actually letting them go, since He couples this with providing for them. Actually letting them go, however, necessarily entails divorce. Alternatively, He may mean both together. He does not mean divorce alone, for that would not benefit them but would instead harm them. The same applies to His words:

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

The same applies to His words:

“Or part with them honourably.”

For when a woman whose divorce is revocable approaches the end of her waiting period, the husband is not commanded to pronounce a second divorce if he does not take her back. Rather, he is instructed