Irrevocable (bain) And Revocable (rajei) Divorce

Ruling 2540. An irrevocable divorce is when the husband does not have the right to return to his wife after the divorce, meaning that he cannot remarry her without a new marriage contract. This divorce is of six types:

1. the divorce of a girl who has not completed nine lunar years;

2. the divorce of a postmenopausal woman;

3. the divorce of a woman who did not have sexual intercourse with her husband after the conclusion of the marriage contract;

4. the third divorce, which will be explained in Ruling 2545;

5. a khulʿ or mubārāh divorce, the laws (aḥkām) of which will be mentioned later;

6. a divorce given by a fully qualified jurist (al-ḥākim al-sharʿī) to a woman whose husband is neither prepared to pay her living expenses nor divorce her, and the divorce which the husband gives as per the instruction of a fully qualified jurist in such a case.

Apart from these, divorce is revocable, meaning that as long as the wife is observing ʿiddah, her husband can return to her.

Ruling 2541. It is unlawful for a man who has given his wife a revocable divorce to expel his wife from the house in which she resided at the time of the divorce. However, in some instances, such as when a wife has committed adultery, there is no problem in expelling her from the house. It is also unlawful for the wife to leave the house for non-essential tasks without her husband’s permission Furthermore, it is obligatory for the husband to pay for her living expenses during her ʿiddah.