poor persons, or to clothe ten poor persons. You may choose among these three options; but if you are unable to do any of them, then you must fast for three days.

If, however, your intention in swearing was to make the divorce itself conditional on travel, then the moment you travel your wife becomes divorced.

Should this divorce bring the total to three, then she is separated from you with a major, irrevocable separation and is not lawful for you again until she first marries another husband in a genuine marriage and he later divorces her of his own free will. If no prior divorce had taken place, this counts as a revocable divorce: you may take her back so long as she is still within her ʿiddah (waiting period). Once the waiting period ends before you have taken her back, a new marriage contract is required, for the first contract terminated with the expiry of the ʿiddah.

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Question: A man divorced his wife three times. After that, her father returned her to him and they lived together, and she subsequently bore two sons. Is this permissible or not?

Answer: The question is imprecise. If the three divorces were issued separately, so that the full triple divorce was completed, she has become permanently separated from him and is not lawful for him unless she first marries another husband in a marriage of genuine intent and that second husband later divorces her, after which the first husband may marry her again with a new contract.

Question: Must the second husband divorce her of his own volition?

Answer: Yes, he must divorce her by his own free choice.

If, however, the triple divorce was pronounced in a single statement, the matter is one over which the scholars differ. Therefore, if a qualified scholar issued him a legal ruling allowing him to take her back and he acted upon that ruling, there is no blame on him.