عرض

العَرْض

In the lexicon, ard means showing and disclosing; the jurists use the word in its lexical sense ¹. In marriage, when one of two pagan or Magian spouses converts, or a People-of-the-Book man who married a pagan or Magian woman before consummation converts, the Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold that the separation is immediate and is an annulment (faskh), not a divorce ¹. If the conversion comes after consummation, the Shafi'is and, in one report, Ahmad wait until the waiting period ends: if the other spouse converts before then, the marriage stands; otherwise the separation dates from the difference of religion ¹. The Hanafis offer Islam to the spouse who has not converted and separate them if that spouse refuses, with distinctions for People of the Book and others ². A woman may offer herself to a righteous man, and a father may offer his daughter to one whose goodness he trusts, even if that man is already married ^{3 4}.