1305 - Issue; He said: (And if he divorces [her] once, and takes her back, while more than four months of the period of ila' remain, the ruling is as we ruled in the first [case]).

The sum of the matter is that when the muli divorces, or the judge divorces on his behalf fewer than three times, he has the right to take her back. There is another narration from Abu 'Abd Allah, may Allah have mercy on him, that the judge's separation does not involve the right of return; for he said: As for the sultan's separation, there is no return in it during the waiting period, nor after it. According to this narration, the judge's divorce is final (ba'in), and there is no return in it. Abu Bakr said: Regarding every separation that the judge carries out, there are two narrations, whether it is li'an or otherwise; one of them is that it is forbidden permanently. He chose this one. The second is that he has the right to take her back with a new contract. This is the correct view. There is nothing in Ahmad's words that necessitates her being forbidden to him. His statement: "There is no return in it during the waiting period or after it," can be interpreted as meaning he does not have the right to take her back without a new marriage contract; for he has explicitly stated this in other narrations, and because no cause has been found that would necessitate her being forbidden to him. The judge's separation requires nothing but the separation between them in this [particular] marriage. That is why if he separated them on account of impotence (unnah), she is not forbidden to him. As for the separation of li'an, it occurs even without the judge's separation. And even if it occurred through the judge's separation, the one who requires the separation and prohibition is the li'an, by the evidence that it is not permissible for them to be maintained in the marriage even if they both agree to it, contrary to our [current] issue. As for the view of al-Khiraqi, if the divorce is less than three, it is revocable (raj'i), whether it is from the muli or the judge. This is the school of al-Shafi'i; [because the judge is his deputy, so his divorce does not occur as final, just as it does not occur as such in the divorce of the muli, like an agent. So if he does not take her back until her waiting period expires, she becomes final (ba'in), and a second divorce does not attach to her. This is the school of al-Shafi'i], and it was narrated from 'Ali: If the term of ila' precedes the term of divorce, they are two pronouncements, and if the term of divorce precedes the term of ila', it is one. This is required by...