If he intends three divorces, then three are effected; if he intends two, only one counts. This applies to statements such as: “You are bāʾin (irrevocably divorced),” “You are batta,” “You are batila,” “You are ḥarām,” “Your rope is on your withers,” “Go back to your family,” “You are khalīya,” “You are barīya,” “I have handed you over to your people,” “I have released you,” “I have parted from you,” “You are a free woman,” “Veil yourself,” “Cover up,” “Withdraw,” “Keep away,” “Be gone,” or “Seek another husband.”

If he has no intention of divorce, none of these expressions dissolves the marriage—unless the two spouses are actually discussing divorce. In that case the court will treat it as divorce, though before Allah it is not counted unless he truly meant it. If they are not engaged in such a discussion but are in anger or dispute, the divorce takes effect with every utterance that is not meant merely as insult or abuse; words used only for abuse do not count unless he intends divorce by them.

Whenever the husband intensifies the wording of divorce, it becomes irrevocable. Examples include: “You are divorced and bāʾin,” “divorced with the severest of divorces,” “with the most outrageous divorce,” “the devil’s divorce,” “the heretical divorce,” “as weighty as a mountain,” or “enough to fill the whole house.”

If he attributes the divorce to her whole person, or to something that represents her whole, the divorce takes effect—for example: “You are divorced,” “Your neck is divorced,” “Your throat is divorced,” “Your soul is divorced,” “Your body,” “your flesh,” “your private parts,” or “your face is divorced.”

The same ruling applies if he divorces an undivided share of her, such as saying: “Half of you,” or “A third of you is divorced.”

By contrast, if he says: “Your hand is divorced,” or “Your foot is divorced,” no divorce occurs.

Should he pronounce “half a divorce” or “a third of a divorce,” it is counted as one full divorce.

A divorce issued under coercion or intoxication is valid, and a mute person’s divorce takes effect by gesture.

If he links the divorce to the marriage itself, it comes into force as soon as the marriage is concluded, as in: “If I marry you, you are divorced,” or “Every woman I marry is divorced.”

If he connects it to a condition, it takes effect the moment the condition is realised, for example: “If you enter the house, you are divorced.”

Such conditional wording is valid only when the one swearing possesses the right of divorce or links it to something he will own. Thus, if he tells a woman who is not yet his wife, “If you enter the house, you are divorced,” and later marries her, her entering the house does not bring about divorce.

The particles that introduce a condition are: in, idhā, idh mā, kull, kullamā, matā, and matā mā. With any of these, once the condition is fulfilled the oath is dissolved—except with kullamā, for in that case the divorce is renewed each time the condition recurs until three divorces have taken place. After that, if he remarries her and the condition is repeated, nothing happens, and the loss of ownership after the oath does not nullify it.

If the condition is fulfilled while she is still under his ownership, the oath is dissolved.