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.

• Commentary

  This ruling changed in March 2022. The previous version of the ruling was as follows:

  “An irrevocable divorce is one in which 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 mubārāt 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.
  Apart from these, divorce is revocable, meaning that as long as the wife is observing ʿiddah, her husband can return to her.”