What is the legal status concerning intercourse after Zihar but before fulfilling the prescribed expiation?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Zihar
Primary text
The husband is prohibited from having intercourse with his wife before expiation due to the Divine decree concerning emancipation and fasting: "before they touch each other" (Quran 2:3). If he engages in intercourse, he sins by opposing the Divine command, and the expiation remains a permanent liability on his soul, not being waived by death, divorce, or other means. The prohibition on his wife remains until he completes the expiation. This is the position held by the majority of scholars, narrated from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab, 'Ata', Tawus, Jabir ibn Zayd, Murrah al-'Ijli, Abu Mijlaz, al-Nakha'i, 'Abdullah ibn Uthaynah, Malik, al-Thawri, al-Awza'i, al-Shafi'i, Ishaq, and Abu Thawr.
Supporting text
There is a narration transmitted by al-Khallal from al-Salt ibn Dinar, supported by ten jurists, stating only one expiation is due if the man engages in intercourse before expiation, citing al-Hasan, Ibn Sirin, Bakr al-Muzani, Murrah al-'Ijli, 'Ata', Tawus, Mujahid, 'Ikrimah, and Qatadah. A view attributed to 'Amr ibn al-'As, Qabisa, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, al-Zuhri, and Qatadah holds that two expiations are due because intercourse necessitates one expiation and Zihar necessitates another. Abu Hanifa held that the expiation is not established as a liability but is a precondition for permissibility after intercourse, just as it was before.