Islamic Fiqh > Marriage and family > Zihar (injurious comparison)
Zihar: telling one's wife "you are to me like my mother's back", its forbiddance, the kaffara before any relation, and the dhimmi difference.
Zihar consists in saying to one's wife: "you are to me like the back of my mother". This formula is forbidden, and intercourse remains forbidden before the expiation (kaffara): the Quran asks those who divorce their wives by zihar, then return to what they said, to free a slave before they touch one another (al-Mujadila, 3). The divergence over its application to the dhimmi is also covered, along with the detailed rules of the expiation.
Updated on 07 October 2026 at 6:42 PM
Bada'i al-Sana'i by al-Kasani · Hanafi school
because she (the one he likens her to) is not forbidden permanently, and Allah knows best.
Chapter on the ruling of zihar. As for the ruling of zihar, zihar has rulings: among them the prohibition of intercourse before the expiation, according to His words (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "And those who divorce their wives by zihar, then return to what they said: the freeing of a slave before they touch one another" (al-Mujadila, 3), that is, let them free, as in His words (the Most High): "The mothers nurse their children", that is, let them nurse.