The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 529
XI - Treachery of the Banū Quraiẓah and the End of the Jews in Madīnah, Laws of Marriage and Divorce 529 previous wife to another individual with the intention that such a person shall divorce her and she may be able to marry him again. ” Ḥaḍrat ‘Umar ra , the second Khalīfah would even state that if an individual had committed such a crime, such a person would be punished for adultery. 1 In these circumstances, what greater example of insolence can there be than to attribute such a foul practice to Islām. The intention behind the Islāmic teaching, is not as Mr. Muir has understood, or perhaps he has chosen not to understand. When three divorces have been issued, a man and woman cannot come together again until the woman marries another man for a legitimate need and purpose. If afterwards, her new husband passes away or a real dispute arises between the two and there is a divorce, and this marriage was not for the purpose that the woman may return to her former husband, in such a case, the previous husband is permitted to marry a former wife with mutual agreement. The wisdom behind this teaching is that when an individual gives his wife three divorces consecutively, after this lengthy experience it shall be understood that now it is impossible for their marital life to continue in a pleasant manner. Hence, they should not come together and further prolong a bitter experience. Instead, they should separate completely and remove the idea from their hearts that they can live together. After this, however, if a woman marries another man and lives a domestic life with him, and a separation takes place with her new husband for a genuine reason threafter, or he passes away, there should be no hindrance in the woman marrying her previous husband if both desire to come together again with mutual agreement. The reason being that in addition to the fact that there is no reason in principle for the prohibition of their marriage, in such a case, it would not be improbable at all to assume that now, they would be able to live together harmoniously. Due to their remaining apart from one another and having dealt with a third party, it is absolutely possible for them to begin recognising the value of one another. Furthermore, it is most probable and due to the same purpose that this issue has been especially expounded in Islām as well. On the one hand, where the bitter experiences of domestic life should be minimized, on the other hand, the notion should also be removed among people that the issuance of three 1 Tafsīrul-Qur’ānil-‘Aẓīm (Tafsīru Ibni Kathīr), By ‘Imāduddīn Abul-Fidā’ Ismā‘īl bin ‘Umar Ibni Kathīr, Volume 1, p. 474, Tafsīru Sūratil-Baqarah, Under verse 231 “Fa’in Ṭallaqahā Falā Taḥillu Lahū Mim- Ba‘du Ḥattā Tankiḥa Zaujan Ghairahū. . . . . , Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon (1998)