All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all of his family and companions.

Tahleel in marriage: marriage in which a man marries a woman after she was threefold divorce by her husband simply in order to make it lawful for her husband to marry her again.

The Prophet (PBUH) called the person who does that with (Borrowed billy-goat), as Uqbah bin 'Amir narrated: The Prophet (PBUH) said (What means):” 'Shall I not tell you of a borrowed billy goat.” They said: “Yes, O Messenger of!” He said: “He is Muhallil. May curse the Muhallil and the Muhallal lahu.” [Related by Al-Hakem].

As for another colloquial term (Tajheesh) which is used sometimes instead of Tahleel, isn’t a Sharia term but been used by the public to express their anger towards people who seek such a method.

If  Tahleel was stipulated in the second contract of marriage, its ruling will be as follows:

Malikiee, Shafiee and Hanbalie’s schools of thought are of the view that this contract is void. In this regard Al-Mawrdee (May Allah have mercy on his soul) said (What means):” If it was stipulated in the aforementioned contract that she will be divorced after having sexual intercourse with second husband Muhlel ( the Man who makes a woman lawful to her first husband), then it is considered a void marriage for the Prophet (PBUH) said: Curse be upon the one who marries a divorced woman with the intention of making her lawful for her former husband and upon the one for whom she is made lawful.” 

Besides, this kind of act renders the marriage void, because it is stipulated and linked to a deadline or for a certain period of time and in addition of being corrupted more than the temporary marriage, for two reasons: first: its period is unknown. Second: The marriage is stipulated for the sake of the first husband, as well as the divorce was conditioned before achieving the purpose of marriage, therefore this kind of marriage is void.” [ Al-Hawii Al-Kabeer vol.9 pp.332].

Moreover, Hanafee doctrine is of the view that Tahleel is duly disapproved as follows: If a man married a divorced woman for the purpose of making it lawful to the first husband; consequently, this kind of marriage is reprehensible for the Prophet (PBUH) said (What means): ”Curse be upon the one who marries a divorced woman with the intention of making her lawful for her former husband and upon the one for whom she is made lawful.” Therefore, if the divorce occurred after having sexual intercourse with her, then her first husband is permitted to marry her once again, because the sexual intercourse took place lawfully and it didn’t invalidate the stipulation.”

There are two opinions if Tahleel wasn’t stipulated in the marriage contract as follows:

 The adopted opinion according to Imam Malik and Hanbalees doctrine is that it is void, but is reprehensible according to the Shafiee’s doctrine since Al-Demyaty said (What means):” designating a period of time written within the contract for the second marriage’s divorce renders it void, yet there is no harm if they agreed on it orally without being stated in the contract, however it remains reprehensible.” [Hashyat Ea’nat At-Talibeen vol.3 pp.321].     

It is worth mentioning that a woman with a threefold divorce won’t be lawful to her first husband save if she had sexual intercourse with the second husband and by a valid marriage contract, since Al-Imam Ar-Ramli said:” until she has married another husband.” i.e. having sexual intercourse, for the following prophetic narration where it says (What means):” till you taste the second husband and he tastes you (i.e. till he consummates his marriage with you) and this is the opinion of  Shafiee’s doctrine and the majority of Muslim jurists. [Nihayat Al-Muhtaj vol.6 pp. 176].

In conclusion, the reasons of the aforementioned phenomena are: The ignorance and rush of spouses while saying divorce statements and utterances, lack of awareness as regards the devastating effects of the threefold divorce, the increase of irrevocable divorce cases and divorce in general, the desire of the divorced couple to remarry so they use such a sinful trick, the ignorance of the Sharia ruling in this regard and the Muhlel greed for having a lot of cash in return of his services.

Therefore, we (Iftaa Dept.) warn every person neither to commit what Allah made unlawful nor to transgress the limits of Allah, The Exalted. And Allah knows best.