Its apparent meaning is that expiation becomes obligatory through intercourse even if ejaculation does not occur, and this is indeed the case, because the expiation is connected to intercourse. In the hadith of the Bedouin, he said, “I had intercourse with my wife,” so the effective cause was made intercourse itself, without any mention of ejaculation.
Two issues:
The first: It states in al-Rawḍ, “Withdrawal is intercourse.” That is, if a man is having intercourse with his wife at the end of the night, then the mu’adhdhin gives the call to prayer—being one who gives the call at the break of dawn—and he withdraws immediately, then the same consequences as intercourse follow: making up the fast and expiation. This is among the oddities of legal scholarship: how can one fleeing from something be like one who falls into it?! For this reason, the preponderant view is that this is not intercourse but rather repentance, and that it does not invalidate the fast or entail expiation.
The second: It also states in al-Rawḍ, “Ejaculation through lesbian sexual activity is like intercourse.” Such activity occurs between two women. If they both ejaculate, they are only required to make up the fast, with no expiation. If only one of them ejaculates, then she must make up the fast only, without expiation. This is the correct view.
The expiation is the emancipation of a slave. If he cannot find one, then he must fast for two consecutive months. If he is unable, then he must feed sixty poor persons. If he cannot find the means, the obligation is waived.
His statement, “It is,” means: the expiation for intercourse during the daytime in Ramadan.
His statement, “the emancipation of a slave,” means freeing the slave from bondage. The appropriateness of this is that, when this man had intercourse during the daytime in Ramadan despite fasting being obligatory upon him, he deserved punishment; thus, he ransomed himself by emancipating a slave.
His statement, “If he cannot find one,” means if he cannot find a slave, or cannot find its price.