The Qur'an states, "if a husband divorces his wife (irrevocably), He cannot, after that, remarry her until after she has married another husband and He has divorced her. In that case there is no blame on either of them if they reunite, provided they feel that they can keep the limits ordained by God.

Such are the limits ordained by God, which He makes plain to those who understand "(Sura Al-Baqra 230).

This gives way to the idea of al-muhalil which is made legitimate by all the fuqaha. Ibn Kathir says that yes it is possible for a woman to sleep with another man before she is made legal to her husband who divorced her three times already. Meditate with me on the words, " until after she has married another husband." What is the point behind having "another" husband? That she may be made legal to the original husband she married in the first place! Turn with me to Ibn Kathir if you would, and here in front of me, I have the edition published by Maktabat Masr located on 3 Kamil Sidqui, al fagalah, Cairo, Egypt page 277.

When the wife of Rifaa'ah al Qarzi, Aysha (Muhammad's wife) and her father Abu Bakr were all at the prophet's peace be upon him). The wife of Rifaa'ah complained, "O Apostle of Allah! Rifaa'ah divorced me irrevocably, and even though Abdul Rahman ibn al Zubair divorced me, I am nevertheless with a man who has nothing but hadba (i.e. he is impotent no erection). At which point, she picked up the hem of her garment and pointed at it while Sa'eed ibn al 'Aas was standing at the door without permission. Then Abu Bakr said, " Would that woman stop being explicit while standing in the presence of Allah's apostle?" The apostle of Allah could not help but smile more.

The apostle of Allah asked her, " So you want to return to Rifaa'ah?

No way!

Not before you taste the sweetness of him (ie.Ibn al Zubair, the second man) and he tastes your sweetness" I read the same thing in Asbab al Nuzul and the various books of Islamic Jurisprudence when it deals with the issue of nika'h al muttalaqa.

Questions:

1. What does any honorable Muslim man think that if he divorced his wife and wants to get her back without seeing any other man violate her, and yet the Fuqaha, ie Muslim Jurists, refuse until the Law of the Qur'an is fulfilled?

2. What would the sons and the daughters of the divorced woman think when the only prerequisite for getting the family reunited back together is to see another man sleep with their mother temporarily, after which case she can go back to their father? How would this mother's daughter handle such disgrace?

3. Didn't Omar ibn Al-Khattab himself find this so atrocious that he describes such man, who is willing to sleep with a woman in order for her to remarry her first husband, "al tays al musta'aar" i.e.."the borrowed goat"? So, how can such a helpless wife handle being tossed around from the hand of one man to another??

Why does she have to be tossed from one merciless, easily divorcing husband to a "borrowed goat" to use Omar's phraseology?

4. What if after this third divorce, she found herself pregnant and may be that is why she wants to unite with her husband again. She finds God's law, however, telling her "no, you should marry another first, and may be have your child raised by another man other than his father?"

5. What if she married this "Mohalel" to be able to remarry her first husband and she got pregnant from that next man? What would they do?

6. Comparing this to what the Bible says, when it says:

a) They are no more two, but one flesh, so would one cut a piece of himself and through it away? And he wants to get it back, it should be attached to another person first? Doesn't this spoil the whole Body?

And also b) as Jesus said, if someone divorced his wife and she has been to another, wouldn't this make the earth commit adultery?