Others have said that the ilāʾ does in fact revive; and if a dhimmī accepts our ruling in a case of ilāʾ, we judge him by it as well. In every case the four-month waiting period applies. Should the wife claim that the term has elapsed while the husband denies it, his word is accepted upon oath, for he is not compelled to act until the period has actually run out.
If a man places three or four wives under a single oath of abstinence, he becomes a muʿlī in respect of all of them. The court will stop him at the request of whichever wife brings the suit. If he has intercourse with any one of them, he perjures himself and the oath is dissolved, yet the substantive ruling of ilāʾ remains: he must still spare the other wives harm by fulfilling their conjugal rights. If he refuses to do so, the judge separates him from each wife with whom he has not resumed relations, while any wife who does not press the matter may remain with him. Should one of them die or be divorced, he is still a muʿlī toward those who remain. One expiation (kaffāra) suffices for breaking his oath vis-à-vis all the wives, although another view requires a separate expiation for each; the first opinion is that of Ibn al-Qāsim and is the position transmitted from him.
Fayʾ—the required restoration of conjugal relations—is the normal act of intercourse when the husband is able. If legitimate incapacity prevents it—such as debilitating illness, imprisonment, or senility that makes intercourse impossible—he fulfills fayʾ verbally. Once he regains the ability, he must consummate the act; otherwise the judge divorces the wife from him. When the excuse is valid, she may not demand intercourse. The minimum act that qualifies as fayʾ is the entry of the glans into the vagina for a non-virgin, or defloration in the case of a virgin. If the husband claims to have had intercourse and the wife denies it, his word is accepted with an oath when she is not a virgin, but hers is accepted when she is. Should he have intercourse at a prohibited time or in a prohibited manner, he sins yet nevertheless exits the ilāʾ; another view holds that he does not exit unless the intercourse itself is lawful.
When a man, without having sworn an oath, withholds intercourse from his wife solely to harm her, he is ordered to resume relations. If he refuses and persists in his abstention, thereby harming her, the judge separates them immediately, without waiting out the ilāʾ term. A different opinion gives him the full four-month period of ilāʾ, and yet another maintains that ilāʾ does not apply to the man