Is Prohibition by Affinity Removed by Halala?

Question

Zayd had intercourse with his wife Hinda, and both husband and wife were sleeping on one bed. At the end of the night Hinda’s mother lay down to sleep next to her son-in-law. The son-in-law, taking his mother-in-law to be his wife, had intercourse with her by mistake (wat’ bi’l-shubha); near the point of ejaculation it became clear that this was not his wife but his mother-in-law. On seeing his mother-in-law, Zayd immediately withdrew. After this Zayd told a certain person what had happened.

Answer

That wife has become haram forever; there is no way for her to become lawful. Mutaraka (relinquishment) with her is wajib: let him leave her forever and say, “I have left her”; then, after the ‘idda, that woman may marry elsewhere.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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