divorce is pronounced against him even though she is menstruating; some, however, say that the judge should wait until she becomes pure.

If the wife maintains that the four months have elapsed while the husband denies it, his word is accepted once he swears an oath, for only after the term ends can he be required to resume, and a valid resumption is established solely through normal intercourse.

Should the husband who undertook ilāʾ return and then divorce, or the judge divorce on his behalf, and he subsequently takes her back during her waiting period and confirms that revocation by intercourse, she remains his wife and the ilāʾ is extinguished. If, however, the waiting period ends without his having intercourse—despite his being able and unhampered by illness, imprisonment, or anything similar—then, according to Mālik, the wife becomes finally separated from him at the close of her ʿiddah, because he did not validate his revocation by intimacy; thereafter he may approach her only through a new marriage contract. When a genuine excuse exists, his revocation is sound and she continues to be his wife.

If divorce was pronounced against the husband under ilāʾ and he did not take her back until her ʿiddah had finished, then married her anew, the original ilāʾ returns. Should he again abstain from intercourse and she take him to court, the same procedure is followed: the judge fixes a four-month term; if he ends his abstention by intercourse or by expiating his oath, that suffices. If divorce is then pronounced against him, it is an irrevocable divorce, because no intercourse occurred after the reconciliation.

If he takes her back and the four months expire before her ʿiddah is over, she may not yet compel him before the judge, but if he still has not had intercourse with her by the end of the ʿiddah she separates from him, for the revocation of one bound by ilāʾ is valid only when confirmed by intercourse before the waiting period ends.

When a man undertakes ilāʾ against his wife and then divorces her with a revocable divorce, she may bring the matter to the ruler during her ʿiddah; if he divorces her once more, that counts as a second divorce. If her waiting period finishes before the four months are complete, the ilāʾ lapses, because she is no longer his wife and the expiry of the four months entails nothing for him.

If a man makes ilāʾ from his wife, divorces her once or twice, and later takes her back, the ilāʾ is reinstated. If he had divorced her three times and she later became lawful to him again, the ilāʾ does not revive—though another opinion holds that it does.

If a man has two wives and swears that the divorce of one of them is contingent on his having intercourse with the other, and the wife whose divorce was conditioned upon dies