What are the waiting periods and conditions for remarrying after a divorce?

A couple who wish to remarry each other after a revocable (raj'i) divorce need only reconcile before the iddah ends, with no new contract required, since the marriage was never fully dissolved. If the iddah has already ended, or the divorce was irrevocable (ba'in), the couple may still remarry each other, but only through an entirely new nikah, including a fresh mahr and, where required, a new wali and witnesses — the Quran explicitly instructs male relatives not to obstruct a woman from remarrying her former husband if both genuinely agree, correcting a pre-Islamic custom of vindictive interference. After a third and final divorce between the same two people, however, remarriage is not permitted at all unless the woman first enters a separate, genuine marriage with a different man, intended to be a real marriage rather than a formality, which then independently ends through death or divorce; only after her own iddah from that marriage may she remarry her former husband if both wish to. This rule is meant to make people far more careful before repeating divorce with the same partner.

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