as a Muslim after him. He said: "O Messenger of God, she embraced Islam with me." He returned her to him. The utterance of both [of them] in Islam at the same time is considered so that neither of them precedes the other, for otherwise the marriage would become invalid. It is possible that it is contingent upon the session (majlis), like taking possession (qabd) and similar things, for the ruling of the entire session is the ruling of the state of the contract. Furthermore, it is unlikely that they would both agree to utter the word of Islam simultaneously; if that were considered, separation would occur between every two Muslims before consummation, except in rare and exceptional cases, which would invalidate the consensus.

Section Four: If one of them embraces Islam after consummation, there are two narrations from Ahmad regarding this. The first is that it is suspended until the expiration of the waiting period ('iddah); if the other embraces Islam before its expiration, they remain in the marriage. If they do not embrace Islam until the waiting period expires, the separation occurs from the time the two religions differed, so there is no need to resume the waiting period. This is the opinion of al-Zuhri, al-Layth, al-Hasan ibn Salih, al-Awza'i, al-Shafi'i, and Ishaq. Similar is reported from Mujahid, Abdullah ibn Umar, and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan. The second narration is that the separation is expedited. This is the choice of al-Khallal and his companions, and the opinion of al-Hasan, Tawus, 'Ikrimah, Qatada, and al-Hakam. This has been narrated from Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, and it is championed by Ibn al-Mundhir. The opinion of Abu Hanifa here is the same as his opinion regarding the state before consummation, except that if the woman is in the Abode of War (dar al-harb) and her waiting period expires and separation occurs, she is obligated to initiate a new waiting period. Malik said: If the man embraces Islam before his wife, he offers Islam to her; if she embraces it, [it stands], otherwise, the separation occurs. If she is absent, the separation is expedited, and if the woman embraces Islam before him, it is suspended