in the prime of her marriage. The third category is a divorcee (ba'in) whose husband is permitted to remarry her, such as a woman whose marriage was ended by khul' (divorce initiated by the wife), or one who is divorced by an annulment due to a defect or insolvency, and the like. Her husband may express a proposal to her explicitly or by allusion, because it is permissible for him to marry her during her waiting period; she is like one not in a waiting period. Is it permissible for someone else to allude to proposing to her? There are two views on this, and regarding this, there are also two opinions attributed to Al-Shafi'i: one is that it is permissible, due to the generality of the verse, and because she is irrevocably divorced, thus resembling the woman divorced three times. The second view is that it is not permissible, because the husband has the power to make her lawful to him again, so she is like the revocable divorcee. In terms of what is permissible and prohibited, the woman in her response is like the man in his proposal, because the proposal is for the marriage contract; therefore, they do not differ in its lawfulness or prohibition. Once this is established, an allusion is for him to say: "I am someone who desires someone like you," or "I am someone who might desire you." Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad said: "An allusion is to say: 'You are truly precious to me,' or 'I am someone who desires you,' or 'Allah will surely lead some goodness or provision to you.'" Al-Zuhri said: "'You are beautiful,' or 'You are someone desired.' If he says: 'Do not let yourself get ahead of me,' or 'Do not let yourself escape us,' or 'When you have become lawful, inform me,' or the like, it is permissible." Mujahid said: "A man died, and his wife was following the funeral procession, so a man said to her: 'Do not let yourself get ahead of us.' She replied: 'Someone else has already gotten ahead of you.'" The woman may respond: "If something is decreed, it shall be," or "We do not have a lack of desire for you," and the like. An explicit expression is any phrasing that does not allow for any meaning other than marriage, such as saying: "Marry yourself to me," or "When your waiting period ends, I will marry you." It is possible that this is the meaning of the words of Allah the Almighty: {But do not promise them secretly}. For the marriage act is referred to as "secretly," as the poet said:

You shall not seek her "secretly" for wealth, nor shall you abandon her for her lack of it.