He continued to sleep with her for fifteen years after the talaq

Question

Question: Zayd had given his wife a major (mughallaza) talaq, yet for fifteen years he continued to sleep with her, and children kept being born. According to the Shari‘a, what punishment should be given to him and how should he be treated?

Answer

He has committed a grave crime, but the conditions for its actual punishment are not present, so that punishment cannot be given. Moreover, he has been engaged in an impermissible act for so long — why did the whole family and the people of the settlement, knowing of it, remain silent; why did they not ask for its resolution?

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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