“Choose yourself by whatever number of divorces you wish”; then she has the authority to divorce herself three times. The author mentions only what this wording entails.

But is a man instructed to say this to his wife, or should it be said that he ought not say such words to her? We say: he ought not, because woman, as is well known, is deficient in reason and religion, as the Prophet ﷺ described them when he said: “You frequently curse and are ungrateful to your husbands” (1). He also said: “A believing man should not hate a believing woman. If he dislikes one trait in her, he will be pleased with another” (2). Since this is so, even if you treated a woman well throughout your entire life, then she saw one instance of ill-treatment from you, she would say, “I have never seen any good from you.” Therefore, if you said these words to her—especially in a state of anger and heated dispute—she would settle the matter at once. She would then regret it, and the husband would regret it; and how often regret occurs between spouses in such circumstances.

His statement, “If she declines, or he has intercourse with her, divorces her, or revokes it, her option is void”: If he says, “Your matter is in your hand,” or, “Choose yourself,” and she replies, “I do not want that,” then she has no authority to divorce herself. This is like saying to someone, “Take this item and sell it,” and he says, “No, I will not sell it.” If he then takes it and sells it, this is not valid. Once he has declined, the agency has ended.

The same applies if he has intercourse with her, divorces her, or revokes it, as mentioned above: her option is thereby nullified.