has no need for a stipulated option, since he possesses the right of divorce. Whenever he wishes to dissolve the marriage, he may divorce her; the matter is then settled and the difficulty removed. Accordingly, a stipulation of an option for the husband is invalid, since his right of divorce suffices.
It may be argued that he has an option if it becomes clear that he was deceived regarding her, and that he may recover the bridal gift from the one who deceived him. But it may be said: this is a different issue. The latter issue concerns the case where he stipulated a particular attribute and she proved to be lacking it. The option under discussion here, however, is an unrestricted option, whose cause is neither the absence of a desired attribute nor the presence of an undesirable one.
It may also be argued that this option could benefit the husband if he divorces before consummation, for he would then owe half the bridal gift. Thus, if he stipulates an option and divorces before consummation—or chooses annulment, for example—then in that case he owes nothing of the bridal gift. He therefore benefits from stipulating the option if he chooses it before consummation. After consummation, however, she is entitled to the full bridal gift in return for what he has made lawful of intimacy with her, so he gains nothing in that respect. Yet he does benefit in that, if he annuls the marriage, it is not counted as a divorce against him.
After these discussions, then, we return to the view that validates the option for both the husband and the wife. This is the view chosen by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, who said that it is valid for him and for her as well.
His statement: “Or, if the bridal gift is brought at such-and-such a time, otherwise there is no marriage between them,” means that he says: “I shall marry her for one thousand riyals, on the condition that if I bring the thousand at the beginning of the year 1405, otherwise there is no marriage.” We say: this condition is invalid. They justified this by saying that it resembles an option, and there is no option in marriage—despite the fact that they said regarding a sale that it is permissible for one to say: “If”