Nikāḥ ḥalālah (tahlīl) — an academic overview

By Dr. Maxwell Shimba, Shimba Theological Institute

Abstract

This short paper explains the Islamic legal rule commonly called nikāḥ ḥalālah (also tahlīl): the situation in which a woman who has become permanently divorced from her first husband (after a third, irrevocable talaq) may only remarry him if, after that final divorce, she lawfully marries another man and that marriage is consummated and then ends. The note summarizes the scriptural bases (Qurʾān and ḥadīth), the classical juristic rationale, the prohibition of pre-arranged or manufactured halālah, and ethical implications. Key primary sources from the hadith corpus are cited.

---

1. Scriptural and textual basis

Qurʾānic text. The principal Qurʾānic verse is explicit: “And if he has divorced her (the third time), then she is not lawful unto him thereafter until she has married another husband.” (Qurʾān 2:230). This verse is the foundational legal text that creates the condition requiring an intervening marriage after an irrevocable third divorce. (Quran)

Prophetic practice and explanatory ḥadīth. The Prophet’s practice and sayings further explain what “another husband” and the required condition mean. Sahih reports narrated in collections such as Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī describe instances and rulings where the Prophet explained that the subsequent husband must consummate the marriage for the woman to become lawful again for her first husband. For example, Bukhārī records the Prophet’s reply that a wife who was divorced and then married another man can only return to her first husband if the second marriage was consummated in the normal way. (Sunnah.com)

---

2. The classical juristic rationale

Classical jurists (Hanafi, Shāfiʿī, Mālikī, and Ḥanbalī schools) read Qurʾān 2:230 together with the Prophet’s explanations to achieve two objectives:

1. Protection against abuse. The rule prevents husbands from treating pronouncements of divorce as a reversible threat (pronouncing and then rescinding talaq capriciously) to coerce wives. The third, irrevocable divorce with the intervening-marriage condition is a deterrent against such abuse.

2. Affirmation of marital sanctity. The requirement of a bona fide intervening marriage and consummation underscores that the woman cannot be made “lawful” again to her first husband by arrangement or artifice; rather a genuine change of marital status must occur. Classical manuals thus emphasize that the intervening marriage must be genuine and not a sham. (See classical commentaries on Kitāb al-Talaq and the works of jurists explaining Qurʾān 2:230.) (Quran)

---

3. Prohibition of pre-arranged halālah (manufactured tahlīl)

While the Qurʾān and Sunnah set the condition for returning after an irrevocable divorce, the Prophetic literature also contains clear condemnations of manufactured halālah — that is, when a man marries a divorced woman with the explicit intention of divorcing her solely so that she becomes lawful for her former husband. A hadith reported in Sunan Abī Dāwūd (and reported elsewhere) records the Prophet as saying, in reference to such conduct, “May Allah curse the muhallil and the muhallal lahu” — that is, the man who performs the intervening marriage as a trick and the man for whom this is being done. This hadith has been authenticated by many scholars and is widely used by jurists to declare pre-arranged tahlīl unlawful and morally condemned. (Sunnah.com)

Scholarly fatwās and juristic texts therefore distinguish sharply between:

• A lawful intervening marriage (entered sincerely, consummated, and not undertaken as a ruse), which makes remarriage to the first husband legally possible; and

• A sham/contracted halālah (a marriage contracted with the explicit, pre-agreed purpose of making the woman lawful for her ex-husband), which is condemned and invalid as a means to circumvent the law. (Islam-QA)

---

4. Representative ḥadīth evidence (select primary references)

• Qurʾān 2:230 — the foundational verse establishing the intervening-marriage condition. (Quran)

• Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Book of Divorce) — narrations describing that the married-again husband must consummate the marriage for return to the first husband to be permissible. (See Bukhārī, Book of Divorce, relevant hadiths). (Sunnah.com)

• Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2076 / Sunan Ibn Mājah 1934 (and related chains) — the tradition recording: “May Allah curse the muhallil and the muhallal lahu,” used by classical jurists to proscribe pre-arranged halālah. (These reports have been assessed and authenticated to varying degrees by later scholars; they are widely cited in fiqh discussions on nikāḥ halālah.) (Sunnah.com)

Note: jurists also consult additional narrations and the context in which early Companions and the Prophet ruled on real cases; see classical commentaries on Kitāb al-Talaq for fuller chains and legal argumentation. (IIUM)

---

5. Practical and ethical considerations for contemporary application

1. Do not arrange or instrumentalize another person. Islamic legal ethics and the explicit prophetic condemnation caution strongly against arranging an intervening marriage as a device to reverse an irrevocable divorce. Such behavior is described as sinful in the Prophetic traditions and undermines the moral aims of the law. (Sunnah.com)

2. Protect the vulnerable. In many contemporary contexts, women are at risk when husbands use talaq irresponsibly or when economic and social pressures push women into exploitative arrangements. Scholars emphasize protective measures: family counseling, legal reform where necessary, and community education about the consequences of rash divorces.

3. Authenticity of the second marriage matters. If, after a legitimate and consummated second marriage, that marriage ends (by divorce or death), reunification with the first husband is legally possible — provided the intervening marriage was entered into sincerely and not merely as a pretext. The law thus preserves an objective procedural reality (a genuine change of marital status) while discouraging circumvention. (Pfander Center)

---

6. Conclusion

Nikāḥ ḥalālah as a legal institution is rooted in Qurʾān 2:230 and expounded in the Sunnah and classical jurisprudence: it permits a woman, after an irrevocable triple divorce, to be lawful again for her first husband only after a genuine interposing marriage that was consummated. However, the prophetic condemnations recorded in the ḥadīth literature make clear that pre-arranged or instrumental uses of such intervening marriages to circumvent the law are forbidden, morally condemned, and—according to the ḥadīth—cursed. Ethical application therefore requires both fidelity to the text and protection of human dignity.

---

Select bibliography & primary sources (recommended reading)

• Qurʾān 2:230 (exegesis and classical commentators). (Quran)

• Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī — Book of Divorce (Kitāb al-Talaq), hadiths on remarriage after divorce. (Sunnah.com)

• Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Hadith no. 2076 (on the curse of the muhallil and muhallal lahu). (Sunnah.com)

• Sunan Ibn Mājah (related narrations) and juristic discussions on tahlīl and nikāḥ halālah. (Sunnah.com)

• Contemporary fiqh explanations and fatāwā (e.g., IslamQA and IslamOnline summaries on tahleel/halala). (Islam-QA)

---