Thus, the correct view is that forming the intention before completing that from which the exception is made is not a condition, and that one may form the intention even after the speech has been completed, whether he himself recalls it or someone reminds him.

The conditions of an exception, then, are four:

First: the exception and that from which it is made must come from the same speaker.

Second: when it concerns a number, what is excepted must be half or less.

Third: it must be connected to that from which the exception is made.

Fourth: he must intend it before completing that from which the exception is made.

These conditions relating to exceptions are not exclusive to divorce; rather, they are conditions for every exception.

No clear evidence appears to support these conditions except the first—that they must come from the same speaker. For the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not suffice with al-ʿAbbās’s exception. Had an exception made by another speaker been valid, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would have remained silent, and it would have been valid. Thus, I find no evidence in the sunnah establishing the validity of these conditions except the first alone. Evidence has established the contrary of the condition of intention and the condition of connection, while the reasoning given for requiring the exception to be half or less is weak.

Accordingly, what appears to me is that only the first condition is authoritative.