from three aspects, and no dissenting opinion is known among the Companions. Al-Juzajani and others narrated, with their chain of authority from ‘Ali regarding the wife of a missing person: She observes a waiting period of four years, then the guardian of her husband divorces her, and she observes after that a waiting period of four months and ten days. If her missing husband comes after that, he is given the choice between the dowry and his wife. ‘Uthman also ruled in this manner, as did Ibn al-Zubayr concerning a female client (mawlah) of theirs. These are rulings that spread among the Companions and were not denied, thus they constitute consensus (ijma‘). As for the hadith which they narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, it is not established, and the compilers of the Sunan did not mention it. As for what they narrated from ‘Ali, al-Hakam and Hammad narrated it in mursal form, while the reported version from him is like our opinion. Furthermore, what they narrated is to be interpreted as referring to the missing person whose absence is ostensibly one of safety, to reconcile it with what we have narrated. Their statement that "it is a doubt regarding the termination of the marital bond" is rejected, because doubt (shakk) is when two matters are equal, whereas the apparent state in our case is his death.

Section: Is it required that the guardian of her husband divorces her, and then she observes after that a waiting period of three quru‘ (menstrual cycles)? There are two reports regarding this. The first is that this is required, because it is in the hadith of ‘Umar which we have narrated, and Ahmad said: "It is the best of them." He mentioned in the hadith of ‘Ali that "the guardian of her husband divorces her." The second is that this is not required; this was stated by Ibn ‘Umar and Ibn ‘Abbas, and it is the qiyas (analogy). This is because the guardian of a man has no authority to divorce his wife. Also, because we have ruled upon her the waiting period of death, so a waiting period of divorce is not incumbent upon her in addition to that, just as if his death were certain. Furthermore, evidence for his death has been found in a manner that permitted her remarriage and necessitated upon her the waiting period of death, so it resembles the case where two witnesses testify to it.

Section: Is the start of the period counted from the time of his absence, or from the time the judge sets the period? There are two reports. The first is that its start is counted from the time the judge sets it, because it is a period concerning which there is disagreement, so it requires the judge's setting of the time, like the period of impotence (‘unnah). The second is from the time his news was severed,