What is the legal consequence when a husband swears an oath, "By God, I will not have intercourse with any one of you (plural wives)"?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of the Oath of Abstention (Ila')
Primary text
If the husband states, "By God, I will not have intercourse with any one of you," the Oath of Ila' (Oathing not to approach a wife) immediately applies to all of them simultaneously. His subsequent claim that he intended only one specific wife, or an unspecified one, is rejected because the plural word "any one" (kull) removes the possibility of specification. If he breaks the oath regarding one wife, the Ila' is dissolved for all wives, similar to previous cases. This is because the single oath has been broken, so its effect ceases, just as if he had sworn regarding only one wife. Since the single oath cannot be broken again, he is no longer prohibited from approaching the remaining wives by the ruling of the oath; thus, the Ila' ceases concerning all of them, like other oaths that have been broken.
Supporting text
The view of Al-Qadi and some Shafi'i scholars is that the Ila' is not dissolved for the remaining wives upon breaking the oath regarding one.