of divorce or manumission is not among the kinds of oaths that can be expiated; no expiation applies to them.” End of citation.

Those who hold the opposite view reply to al-Subkī’s claim of consensus by saying that it pertains only to cases in which the husband truly intends the divorce to take effect once the condition is fulfilled.

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah writes in al-Qawāʿid al-Nūrāniyyah: “Ismāʿīl ibn Saʿīd al-Shālanjī said, ‘I asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal about a man who says to his son, “If I speak to you, my wife is divorced and my slave is free.” He replied, “This does not stand in the place of an oath; both consequences are binding upon him whether he is angry or content.”’” End of quote.

He also said: “I have not found any of the well-known scholars who possessed in this matter the body of transmitted knowledge from the Companions that Aḥmad possessed.” Al-Marwadhī relates that Abū ʿAbd Allāh (Aḥmad) said, “If a man says, ‘Every slave I own is free,’ then should he break his word, they are in fact emancipated, because neither divorce nor manumission admits of expiation.” End of quote.

As for the scholars ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥumayd, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz, ʿAbd Allāh Khayyāṭ, ʿAbd al-Razzāq ʿAfīfī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad Āl al-Shaykh, Muḥammad ibn Jubayr, and Ṣāliḥ ibn Luḥaydān, they have chosen the view that a divorce suspended upon a condition—when intended only as an inducement or deterrent, or to affirm or deny a statement, without any desire for the divorce itself to occur—counts as a sworn oath for which expiation is due. Their supporting rationale is attached. Allah grants success. May blessings and peace be upon Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.

Council of Senior Scholars