CAUSE OF REVELATION (VERSE NO. 230)

      A woman said to the prophet: ``I was my cousin's wife. He divorced me for three times. I then married another man. He, too divorced me. Can I marry my cousin again?''

      The prophet said to her: ``Yes you can; on condition that your second husband had made love to you.'' (i. e. sexual intercourse)

COMMENTS

      This verse (NO. 230) is a continuation, and a note of first sentence of the preceding verse (NO. 229), that two divorces followed by a reunion are allowed. In the third time the divorce becomes irrevocable, until the woman marries some other man, and the man makes love to her, and then divorces her. In such conditions their reunion and marriage is permissible, if they think this time they can keep within the bounds of Allah, which are made clear for a people who understand.