Chapter: What Determines the Number of Divorces

A person who is entirely free, or partially free, possesses three divorces; a slave possesses two …

Spouses fall into one of three situations: either both are free, both are slaves, or one is free and the other a slave. The latter case is divided into two categories: the husband is free and the wife is a slave, or the wife is free and the husband is a slave. Thus, there are four possible cases. Does the number of divorces differ according to these cases, or does it not?

The well-known view among the scholars is that it differs according to freedom and slavery: a slave has two divorces, while a free person has three. But which spouse is decisive here? Is it the wife—such that the ruling differs when the husband is free and the wife is a slave—or is the husband the determining factor?

The author says: “A person who is entirely free, or partially free, possesses three,” meaning three pronouncements of divorce if he is free, or partly free. As for one who is fully free, the matter is clear, due to Allah’s saying:

“Divorce is twice. Then, either retain her in an acceptable manner or release her with good treatment”—up to His saying—“And if he divorces her,” meaning the third time, “then she is not lawful for him thereafter until she marries another husband.” [al-Baqarah 2:229–230]

If a person is partly free and partly enslaved, should we say that he is given a number proportionate to his status, or should his number be completed? The author says that his number is completed, because divorce cannot be divided: it is either two or three.

His statement, “and a slave possesses two,” means that a slave possesses two pronouncements of divorce; that is because