touching her until he performs expiation. And because the Zihar has been validly established regarding her, and its ruling is not invalidated by a divorce which removes the [marital] ownership and lawfulness, therefore it is even more [imperative] in the case of ownership by right of possession [mil al-yamin]. And because it is an oath that has been concluded, necessitating an expiation, so it becomes obligatory without [regard to] other factors, like other oaths. Abu Bakr 'Abd al-Aziz said: The Zihar is voided by his owning her; and if he has intercourse with her, he has violated his oath and an oath-expiation is upon him, just as if he had performed Zihar against her while she was his slave woman; because she has departed from the state of being wives, and his intercourse with her has become [based] on the right of possession, so it does not necessitate the expiation of Zihar, just as if he had performed Zihar against her while she was his slave woman. The statement of Abu Bakr implies that she is permitted [for him] before the expiation, because he has voided the Zihar and made it [like] an oath, similar to the prohibition of his slave woman. If he frees her as his expiation, it is valid according to both opinions. If he marries her after that, she is lawful for him without expiation, because he has performed the expiation for his Zihar by freeing her, and there is no impediment to its sufficiency for the expiation that became obligatory due to it, just as if he said: 'If I own a slave woman, then it is upon me before Allah to free a slave.' Then he owned a slave woman and freed her. If he freed her for a purpose other than the expiation, then married her, the ruling of Zihar returns, and she is not lawful for him until he performs expiation.

1314 - Issue: He said: (And if he performs Zihar against four of his wives with a single statement, there is nothing upon him more than one expiation.)

The general principle of this is that if he performs Zihar against his four wives with one utterance, saying: 'You are to me like the back of my mother,' there is nothing upon him more than one expiation, without disagreement in the Madhhab. This is the opinion of Ali, Umar, 'Urwah, Tawus, 'Ata', Rabi'ah, Malik, al-Awza'i, Ishaq, Abu Thawr, and al-Shafi'i in his early [school]. Al-Hasan, al-Nakha'i, al-Zuhri, Yahya al-Ansari, al-Hakam, al-Thawri, the Ashab al-Ra'y, and al-Shafi'i in his new [school] said: Upon him is an expiation for every wife.