Abrogated Laws: Prohibition on Remarrying Divorced Wife

Prohibition Against Remarrying One’s Divorced Wife

The Lord hath prohibited, in a Tablet inscribed by the Pen of His command, the practice to which ye formerly had recourse when thrice ye had divorced a woman. This He hath done as a favor on His part, that ye may be accounted among the thankful. He who hath divorced his wife may choose, upon the passing of each month, to remarry her when there is mutual affection and consent, so long as she hath not taken another husband. Should she have wed again, then, by this other union, the separation is confirmed and the matter is concluded unless, clearly, her circumstances change. Thus hath the decree been inscribed with majesty in this glorious Tablet by Him Who is the Dawning-place of Beauty.

(The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book, Bahá’u’lláh, para. 68)

Question: Concerning the sacred verse: “The Lord hath prohibited … the practice to which ye formerly had recourse when thrice ye had divorced a woman.”

Answer: The reference is to the law which previously made it necessary for another man to marry such a woman before she could again be wedded to her former husband; this practice hath been prohibited in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.

(The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book, Bahá’u’lláh, Questions & Answers, NO. 31)

The Lord hath prohibited … the practice to which ye formerly had recourse when thrice ye had divorced a woman.

This relates to a law of Islám set out in the Qur’án which decreed that under certain conditions a man could not remarry his divorced wife unless she had married and been divorced by another man. Bahá’u’lláh affirms that this is the practice which has been prohibited in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas

(The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, The Most Holy Book, Notes NO. 101)