If he makes it contingent upon a condition, she is not divorced before it occurs, even if he says, “I have brought it forward.” …

His statement: “If he makes it contingent upon a condition, she is not divorced before it occurs, even if he says, ‘I have brought it forward.’” If a husband makes divorce contingent upon a condition, there are three possibilities:

First: he remains upon the condition he stipulated. This is clear: the matter remains as it is.

Second: he wishes to bring the divorce forward. In that case, she is not divorced, because he pronounced the wording of divorce in a conditional form, and it cannot become an immediate divorce. This is the position of the school. However, we would say to him: if you wish to separate from her quickly, then divorce her with a divorce other than the first one that you made contingent. But if the time of the condition arrives while she is in a revocable divorce, she will be divorced a second time, because divorce takes effect upon a woman in a revocable divorce. Had we not held that divorce takes effect when its stipulated time arrives, that would have been the meaning of bringing it forward.

The second view is that it does take immediate effect, because he has imposed a stricter restriction upon himself, just as if he were to acknowledge the more severe liability against himself, or as when he pays a debt in advance before its due date. Thus, if he says, “I have brought it forward,” it takes immediate effect, the condition is cancelled, and she is divorced.

Third: if he says, “I want to cancel the divorce altogether,” there is a view in the school that he may do so, by analogy with a person who says to his slave, “When the beginning of the month arrives, you are free,” for he may retract it. If retraction is permitted in the case of manumission—which is more binding in effect than divorce and more beloved to Allah—then permitting it in the case of divorce is all the more appropriate.

Shaykh al-Islam, may Allah have mercy on him, said concerning this issue: if the contingency is in the nature of an exchange, then he may retract it. For example, if he says, “If you give me one thousand, you are divorced,” he may retract it so long as she has not given it to him, because the compensation has not been completed. And although this