takes place using the wording of khulʿ without intending divorce; or that it takes place using the wording of khulʿ while intending divorce.
If it takes place using the explicit wording of divorce, then it is a divorce, as mentioned above. This is the well-known position in the school of Imam Ahmad, and it represents a middle position between two views.
The second view is that it is a divorce in all cases, even if it takes place using the wording of khulʿ or annulment. There is no doubt that this view is weak.
The third view is that it is an annulment in all cases, even if it takes place using the wording of divorce. This was the preferred view of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, and it is the explicit position reported from Ahmad and the view of his early followers, as Shaykh al-Islam related. According to this view, the wording is of no consequence; rather, what matters is the meaning. So long as the woman has offered compensation for her release, it makes no difference whether this is done using the wording of divorce, khulʿ, or annulment.
This view is close to what is correct, but I still find the Prophet’s statement to Thabit ibn Qays problematic: “Accept the garden and divorce her with one divorce.” (1) This is its wording. However, the narrators differed over the transmission of this hadith. The version containing, “Divorce her with one divorce,” appears to have been regarded by al-Bukhari as mursal—that is, lacking a connected chain. As for the other hadiths, their wording is: “Accept the garden and separate from her.” (2) Thus, if it becomes clear that the more likely wording of the hadith is, “Accept the garden and separate from her,” then there is no doubt that