Chapter on Doubt Concerning Divorce

1. Whoever is unsure whether he has actually pronounced a divorce, or whether the condition he attached to it has been fulfilled, the divorce does not take effect. If he is uncertain about the number of pronouncements, only one divorce is counted, and marital relations remain lawful for him.

2. If he says to his two wives, “One of you¹ is divorced,” the wife he specifically intended is the one divorced; otherwise, the wife chosen by casting lots is divorced, just as if he had given one of them an irrevocable (bāʾin) divorce and then forgotten which one she was. Should it later become clear that the divorced wife is other than the one selected by lot, she returns to him—unless she has already married another man, or unless the lots were cast by judicial order.

3. If he declares, “If this bird is a crow, then so-and-so is divorced; and if it is a dove, then so-and-so is divorced,” yet he is unable to determine which bird it is, neither woman is divorced.

4. If he says to his wife and to an unrelated woman named Hind, “One of you¹ is divorced,” or “Hind is divorced,” then his own wife is divorced. Should he claim, “I intended the unrelated woman,” that claim is not accepted in court—unless corroborated by clear evidence.

5. If he addresses a woman he mistakenly believes to be his wife with the words, “You are divorced,” his (actual) wife is divorced, and the same ruling applies in the reverse situation.