marriage. Our argument is the saying of Allah, the Exalted: "until she has married another husband." The absolute term "marriage" implies a valid marriage; for this reason, if one swears not to marry, then performs a corrupt marriage, he does not break his oath. And if he swears that he will marry, he does not fulfill his oath by a corrupt marriage. Moreover, most of the rulings pertaining to a husband are not established in it, such as legal immunity (ihsan), invoking curses (li'an), Zihar (pre-Islamic form of divorce), Ila' (oath of abstinence), maintenance, and the like. As for naming him a muhallil (one who marries to make her lawful), it is because of his intention to make lawful that which is not lawful. If he had truly made her lawful, he would not have been cursed, nor would the one for whom she is made lawful have been cursed. This is like the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "One who considers his prohibited acts as lawful has not believed in the Quran." Allah the Exalted says: "They make it lawful one year and forbid it another year." Furthermore, it is sexual intercourse outside of a valid marriage, so it resembles intercourse by way of doubt (shubhah).

The third condition is that he must have intercourse with her in the vagina. If he has intercourse with her other than there, or in the anus, it does not render her lawful because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) conditioned the lawfulness upon the "tasting of sweetness" (dhawq al-'usaylah) between them, and this is not achieved except through intercourse in the vagina. The minimum requirement for this is the disappearance of the glans (hashafah) into the vagina, because the rulings of intercourse are connected to it. If he inserts the glans without an erection, it does not make her lawful for him, because the ruling is linked to the "tasting of sweetness," which is not achieved without an erection. If the penis is severed, and there remains an amount equal to the glans, and he inserts it, it makes her lawful; otherwise, it does not. If he is a castrate (khasi), or has had his testicles extracted (maslul), or had them crushed (mawju'), she becomes lawful by his intercourse, because he has intercourse just as a potent man does, and he has only lost the emission of semen, which is not considered in the process of making her lawful. This is the opinion of al-Shafi'i. Abu Bakr said: It has been narrated from Ahmad, regarding the castrate, that he does not render her lawful; for Abu Talib asked him about a woman who marries a castrate, "Is she made lawful by him?" He replied, "No castrate tastes the sweetness." Abu Bakr said: The practice is according to what Muhanna narrated, that she does become lawful. The reasoning for the first view is that the castrate...