Divorce that is repudiation of the type that may be revoked is twice; then honourable retention that is to say you are then obliged to revert to them to retain them without harming them; or setting them free kindly. It is not lawful for you O male spouses to take of what you have given them of dowry if you divorce them unless the married couple fear that they may not maintain God’s bounds that is to say that they will not honour the rights God has established for them a variant reading for yakhāfā ‘they dual form fear’ has yukhāfā with the direct object taking the accusative ending; allā yuqīmā is an inclusive substitution for the person governing the verb; both verbs are also read in the second person sc. takhāfā ‘you fear’ tuqīmā ‘you maintain’. If you fear they may not maintain God’s bounds neither of them would be at fault if she were to ransom herself of some money so that he should divorce her. In other words in this instance there is no culpability either for the man should he take of the dowry or for the woman should she offer of it. Those prescriptions mentioned are God’s bounds; do not transgress them. Whoever transgresses God’s bounds — those are the evildoers.
