the second failure of the union, except in one case: “So if he divorces her (for the third time), she shall not be lawful to him afterwards until she marries another husband. If he (the second husband) divorces her, there is no blame on them both if they return to each other (by marriage), if they think that they can keep within the limits of Allāh” (2:230). Thus the one case in which marriage with the first husband is allowed, after being divorced for the third time, is that in which a marriage has been contracted with a second husband and that too has proved a failure. If there be such a rare case, the parties to the marriage have probably learned a lesson, through another marital union, to the effect that they should behave better towards each other. An irrevocable divorce, being in itself a rarity according to the teachings of the Holy Qur’ān, a case, like the one spoken of in the verse quoted above, would be a still greater rarity, but still if such a case should arise, the parties are allowed to remarry even after an irrevocable divorce.

Taḥlīl or ḥalālah

Taḥlīl or ḥalālah, which means legalizing or making a thing lawful, was a pre-Islamic practice. When the wife was divorced irrevocably, by thrice pronouncing the divorce formula, and the husband wanted to take her back again, she had first to marry a third person on condition that he would divorce her after having sexual connection with her. This was called ḥalālah. It is a mistake to confound the ḥalālah with the marriage spoken of in the verse quoted under the previous headings, since ḥalālah was a kind of punishment for the woman who had to undergo the disgrace of sexual connection amounting practically to adultery, while the marriage spoken of in the previous paragraph is a perpetual marital tie, and the divorce in that case may not follow at all; in fact, in the normal course of things it would not follow at all. It is for this reason that the Holy Prophet cursed those who resorted to this practice, his words being: “The curse of Allāh be on the man who commits ḥalālah and the man for whom the ḥalālah is committed “ (Tr. 9:25). The Caliph ‘Umar is reported to have said that if there were brought to him two men who took part in the practice of ḥalālah, he would treat them as adulterous people. The three divorces, as allowed in the