The Ruling on Zihar For One Month Only

Question :

A man said to his wife: "You are as the back of my mother to me for a period of one month," then the month passed and he returned to his wife. Is he obliged to make the atonement for Az-Zihar, or not?

Answer:

There is no atonement for such cases as this, if he did not have sexual intercourse with her during the aforemen- tioned month, according to the most authoritative opinion of the scholars. This Zihar is known as Zihar Mu'aqqat. The scholars have explained that Zihar may be, Munjaz, Mu'allag or Mu'aqqat. The first is like the saying: "You are like the back of my mother to me." The second is to say: "If the month of Ramadhan or Sha'ban begins, or so-and-so arrives, you are as the back of my mother to me." The third is to say: "You are as the back of my mother to me for the month of Ramadhan." Then if the month ends and he has not had sexual intercourse with her, there is no atonement incumbent upon him, since he did not go back on what he had said. These types (of Zihar) were explained by Abu Muhammad Muwaffaq Ad-Din 'Abdullah Ibn Qudamah may Allah have mercy on him in his book, Al- Mughni and he reported the sayings of the scholars on the subject, as did other scholars. And Allah knows best.

Source:
Ibn Baz
Fatawa Islamiyah, Vol. 6 Pages 77-78