What is the ruling on a halāla marriage to make a woman lawful for her first husband again?

It is ḥarām and it does not achieve anything. After an irrevocable third divorce Allah says she is not lawful for him "until she marries a husband other than him" — and the majority of scholars hold this means a genuine marriage entered with the intention of permanence, followed by consummation, and then ended naturally by death or divorce; the Prophet ﷺ told the wife of Rifāʿah, "Do you wish to return to Rifāʿah? Not until you have tasted his sweetness and he has tasted yours" (agreed upon). A pre-arranged marriage whose purpose is to legalise her return is a sham contract: it is authentically reported that the Prophet ﷺ cursed the muḥallil (the one who makes her lawful) and the muḥallal lahu (the one for whom she is made lawful), narrated by Aḥmad, al-Nasāʾī and al-Tirmidhī. The Mālikīs, Ḥanbalīs and the verifying scholars hold such a contract void outright, and even those who would treat it as technically binding regard it as gravely sinful. The correct response to a triple divorce is patience and acceptance of Allah's decree, not a contrived contract.

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