Ruling 2540.* An irrevocable divorce is when the husband does not have the right to return to his wife after the divorce, meaning that he cannot remarry her without a new marriage contract. This divorce is of six types:

1. the divorce of a girl who has not completed nine lunar years;

2. the divorce of a postmenopausal woman;

3. the divorce of a woman who did not have sexual intercourse with her husband after the conclusion of the marriage contract;

4. the third divorce, which will be explained in Ruling 2545;

5. a khulʿ or mubārāh divorce, the laws (aḥkām) of which will be mentioned later;

6. a divorce given by a fully qualified jurist (al‑ḥākim al‑sharʿī) to a woman whose husband is neither prepared to pay her living expenses nor divorce her, and the divorce which the husband gives as per the instruction of a fully qualified jurist in such a case.

Apart from these, divorce is revocable, meaning that as long as the wife is observing ʿiddah, her husband can return to her.

Ruling 2541. It is unlawful for a man who has given his wife a revocable divorce to expel his wife from the house in which she resided at the time of the divorce. However, in some instances, such as when a wife has committed adultery, there is no problem in expelling her from the house. It is also unlawful for the wife to leave the house for non-essential tasks without her husband’s permission Furthermore, it is obligatory for the husband to pay for her living expenses during her ʿiddah.