Liaison office of Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Al Sistani (L.M.H.L) in London, Europe, North and South America.
2533. In the case of a revocable divorce a man can take back his wife
in two ways:
By telling her words which would mean that he wants her again as his
wife.
By acting in a manner which would convey his intention to take her back.
And taking her back will be established by sexual intercourse although the
husband may not have intended it. But touching, kissing, with or without
intention of taking her back is not sufficient.
2534. It is not necessary for taking her back that the husband should
call any person to witness, or should inform his wife. On the other hand if he
takes her back without any one else realising this, the Ruju' is in order.
However, if the husband claims after the completion of Iddah that he took his
wife back during Iddah, he must prove it.
2535. If a person who has given revocable divorce to his wife takes
some payment from her, making a compromise with her that he will not make Ruju'
to her, though this compromise is valid and it is obligatory on him not to
'return', yet he does not forfeit the right to 'return'. And if he 'returns' to
her, the divorce given by him does not become the cause of their separation.
2536. If a man divorces a woman twice and takes her back, or divorces
her twice and takes her back by Nikah, or takes her back after one divorce and
returns her by Nikah after the second divorce, she becomes haraam for him after
the third divorce. But if she marries another man after the third divorce, she
becomes halal for the first husband on fulfilment of five conditions, that is,
only then he can remarry her:
The marriage with the second person should have been of permanent nature.
If he contracts with her a temporary marriage for one month or a year, and
then separates from her, the first husband cannot marry her.
The second husband should have had sexual intercourse with her, and the
obligatory precaution is that the sexual intercourse should have taken place
in the normal way.
The second husband divorces her, or dies.
The waiting period (Iddah) of divorce or Iddah of death of the second
husband should have come to an end.
On the basis of obligatory precaution the second husband should have been
Baligh at the time of intercourse.