What is the ruling regarding a husband who said to his wife, "You are forbidden to me, like the sacredness of my mother and my sister," and is it permissible for him to return home after these words and the conjugal relations that occurred after some of them?

If a husband repeats the declaration of ẓihār three times to his wife, saying: "You are to me as the back of my mother, forbidden," this is an explicit ẓihār, and it is forbidden for him to touch her until he performs the expiation of ẓihār. The repetition of ẓihār before expiation necessitates only one expiation, and this is the apparent view of the Hanbalī school, and it is the choice of Ibn Qudāmah. The husband must repent and seek forgiveness for having intercourse with his wife after the first ẓihār before performing expiation.