divorced. If they give birth at the same time, they all become divorced three times each. If they give birth at different intervals, a single pronouncement of divorce occurs upon the co-wives of the first (37); then, when the second [wife] gives birth, she becomes irrevocably separated by her delivery and is not divorced [again]. Do the rest of them become divorced? There are two possibilities: one is that no divorce occurs upon them because once her 'iddah has expired, she is irrevocably separated, so they are no longer her co-wives (38), and the husband only made the divorce of her co-wives conditional upon her birth. The second view is that one pronouncement of divorce occurs upon each of them because they were her co-wives at the time of her birth. According to this view, two pronouncements of divorce occur upon each of the two who did not give birth; this [birthing wife] becomes irrevocably separated, and one pronouncement of divorce occurs upon the first birthing wife. When the third [wife] gives birth (39), she becomes irrevocably separated. There are two viewpoints regarding the occurrence of divorce upon the remaining two; if we say that it occurs upon them, then the fourth [wife] is divorced three times, the first [wife] (40) is divorced twice, and the second and third [wives] become irrevocably separated. Among them, no one has the right of return (raj'ah) except the first, so long as her 'iddah has not expired. When the fourth [wife] gives birth, none of them are divorced, and her 'iddah expires with that. If he says, "Whenever one of you gives birth, the rest of you are divorced," or "your remainders are divorced," then whenever one gives birth, a single pronouncement of divorce occurs upon the rest of them, and the birthing wife becomes irrevocably separated by the delivery of her child, except for the first one. The difference between this and the preceding one is that the divorce occurs upon the remaining wives in this case due to their birth (41), whereas in the first case it does not occur, because they are no longer her co-wives, whereas here he did not make it conditional upon that. If he says, "Whenever one of you gives birth, you are all divorced," it is the same, except that a pronouncement of divorce occurs upon the first one due to her giving birth. If the second wife is pregnant with two, and she delivers the first (42) of them, a pronouncement of divorce occurs upon each of her co-wives in all the scenarios, and a pronouncement of divorce occurs upon her in the third scenario. When the third [wife] delivers, or if she is pregnant with two, the same applies; the fourth is divorced three times, and each of the birthing wives is divorced twice in the first two scenarios, and three times in
(37) In the original and M: "al-awwal" (the first). (38) In A and B: "dara'iru laha" (co-wives to her). (39) In the original and M: "al-thaniyah" (the second). (40) In M: "al-awwal" (the first). (41) In A: "bi-wiladatiha" (by her birth). (42) In A: "al-ula" (the first).