Chapter: The Ruling on the Impotent Husband

If a man proves impotent toward his wife before consummation, and she alleges this while he denies it, his statement—accompanied by an oath—prevails when the wife is previously married (thayyib).

If the wife is a virgin (bikr), Mālik reports two opinions:

1. The first: his word with an oath is accepted just as it would be with a thayyib.
2. The second: women are appointed to examine her. • If they find her still a virgin, her claim is upheld. • If they testify that her hymen has been broken, his statement prevails upon oath.

Once impotence is alleged, the husband is granted a grace period of one lunar year, beginning on the day the wife lays her complaint before the ruler. If, during that year, he is still unable to have intercourse despite her full willingness, she may separate from him if she so chooses. According to Mālik, she is then entitled to her entire dower because he has already derived benefit from the marriage; she may annul the union, and he is deemed to have deceived her.

Likewise, if he divorces her while she is unaware of his impotence, having already entered upon her, and she later discovers the condition, she receives the full dower—provided they both agree that no intercourse took place. This view is also transmitted from Mālik and constitutes the distilled position of his school: when the judge annuls a marriage on the grounds of the husband’s impotence shortly after the contract, the wife is entitled to only half the dower. If, however, the marriage has lasted a long time