with any of his other wives during the nights of his expiatory fast.
If the husband who pronounced ẓihār has intercourse with the wife in question before making the expiation, only one expiation remains due, but he must not approach her again until that expiation is completed.
When an illness drags on so long that recovery is no longer expected, the sufferer is treated like an elderly person who is incapable: he may shift from fasting to feeding, even if, in principle, his type of illness is normally curable. Should his need to lie with his wife become intense, the preferred course is for him to wait until he recovers and can fast; yet if he carries out the expiation by feeding without waiting for the ability to fast, it is valid.
Whoever declares ẓihār while insolvent and later becomes affluent cannot fulfil the obligation by fasting. Conversely, if he is wealthy when he utters ẓihār and then becomes poor before expiating, he must fast; what matters is his financial state on the day he undertakes the expiation. If, during his poverty, he has intercourse with her and then delays the fast until he regains wealth, he must free a slave. If he has already begun fasting and subsequently gains the means, he continues if a substantial portion—about a week—has elapsed; but if only a day or two have passed, he abandons the fast and resorts to manumission. This is not strictly obligatory, just as—according to Mālik—a person who began the prayer with dry ablution and then gained access to water is not obliged to break the prayer and start over with water.
Should a man emancipate two slaves for two separate expiations (such as ẓihār and accidental homicide, or ẓihār and deliberately breaking the fast in Ramadan) and allocate each slave jointly to both liabilities, it does not suffice; he is like one who emancipates a single slave for two expiations. The same ruling applies if he fasts four months on their behalf so that each obligation receives two months, though another opinion holds that this would be acceptable.
If a man declares ẓihār against two wives and frees a slave in expiation for one of them without specifying which, he is not allowed to approach either wife until he completes the second expiation. If he designates the expiation for one particular wife, he may have intercourse with her before expiating for the other. If he declares ẓihār against four wives