28. Abu Ali al-Ash‘ariy has narrated from Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar or others from al-Hassan ibn Ali from Ali ibn ‘Uqbah, from Musa ibn ‘Ukayl al-Numayriy, from certain persons of our people who has said the following:

“About the case of a man who expresses the statement of al-Zihar about his wife then divorces her, abu ‘Abd Allah , has said, ‘Expiation does not apply to his case when he divorces before going to bed with her.’ It was then asked, ‘What happens if he goes back to her?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘If he has divorced her to escape from expiation, then goes back to her, expiation is obligatory for whenever he goes to bed with her, but if he divorced without such intention then it is not unlawful to go back to her and expiation is not due on him.’”