the marriage with the woman he has consummated with is annulled until her womb is declared free; thereafter he may remarry her if he wishes, while the one with whom he did not consummate becomes permanently unlawful to him. Ibn al-Qāsim held this view.

Ashhab and Ibn al-Mājishūn maintained that if he consummated with the mother, both women become perpetually forbidden; but if he consummated with the daughter, the mother alone is forbidden, and—after the daughter has completed the waiting period—he may marry the daughter anew.

Mālik further said: Should a man marry a daughter and then marry her mother and consummate with the mother, both women become permanently forbidden to him. Ibn al-Qāsim explained that the mother became unlawful by virtue of the daughter’s contract, and the daughter became unlawful because of intercourse with her mother.

Mālik also stated: If a man marries a mother without consummating the marriage, then marries the daughter and consummates with her, the mother becomes forbidden, and—once the daughter has observed the waiting period to establish that her womb is clear—he may remarry the daughter if he so wishes. The rationale is that the mother is counted among the “mothers of women,” whereas the daughter’s contract was concluded in an invalid state.

Whichever of the two women he marries first—whether or not he consummates—and then contracts marriage with the other, the second contract is void, and the first is not invalidated unless intercourse or what leads to it takes place. Whenever a contract is annulled in this manner, he is not liable for even half the dower, because the prohibition arose without a divorce that would have obligated the dower.

It is unlawful for anyone to be simultaneously married to more than four women; slaves and free men are equal in this regard, and Mālik rules that marrying up to four wives is permissible.

Any two women whom it is forbidden to combine under a marriage contract cannot be combined for intercourse through right-hand ownership either. Thus, if a man has intercourse with a slave woman whom he owns and then wishes to approach her sister, paternal aunt, or maternal aunt, he must first render the first woman’s private parts unlawful to himself by selling her, freeing her, placing her under a contract of manumission, or any comparable act that removes his right to her; thereafter he may have intercourse with the other slave if he wishes. If he later desires to return to the first, he must do with the second what he did with the first, whereupon the first becomes lawful to him again. In this respect, intercourse with slave women is treated like marriage with free women.