Islamic Fiqh > Marriage and family > Raja: the return after revocable divorce
Raja from start to finish: its conditions and formula, return by act, attestation, the wife's consent, her status during raja and disputes when the term expires.
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Updated on 06 October 2026 at 10:50 PM
The return (raj'a) is the husband's recognized right to take back his wife during her 'iddah after a first or second divorce, without a new contract or a new dower. The fiqh encyclopedia sets out here its conditions (a divorce fewer than three, the wife still in her 'iddah), its formula (explicit or allusive, valid both in earnest and in jest), its realization by action, the witnessing before witnesses, the status of the revocably divorced woman (travel, adornment, inheritance) and the disputes over the expiry of the 'iddah. The positions of the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools are reported with their classical references.