Exceptions expressed with a particle of exception are likewise of two kinds: first, those expressed with illā (“except”) or another particle with the same meaning; and second, those expressed with an or illā an (“unless”). As for an exception expressed with illā, the well-known position in the school is that it must be uttered. Ashhab, however, related from Mālik in the Book of Vows that intention alone suffices. Ibn Habīb also held this view concerning someone who swears, “What is lawful is forbidden to me,” while mentally making the exception, “except my wife.” As for exceptions expressed with an or illā an, intention alone does not suffice: they must be uttered, and I know of no disagreement on this.
An exception without a particle of exception consists in qualifying a general expression by an attribute. This entails excluding from its scope anyone who lacks that attribute, and is therefore an exception in meaning. It is subject to the same rule as an exception: it is effective only if uttered and joined directly to the statement. An example is saying, “By Allah, I have not seen a sensible man of Quraysh today,” for this is equivalent to appending “except a fool” to the statement. This is explicitly stated in the report of Ibn al-Qāsim—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—in the Book of Oaths of Divorce. It concerns someone who asks a man about an item he had entrusted to him, whereupon the latter makes an oath of divorce conditional on its being in his house. Another man prompts him, “To your knowledge,” and he says, “To my knowledge.” This constitutes an exception and avails him if the statement is continuous, with no intervening silence.
A similar ruling appears in Ashhab’s transmission from Mālik in the Book of Vows, concerning a man who swears an oath and qualifies it by saying, “To my knowledge”: he is entitled to do so. For his statement, “My wife is divorced if the entrusted item is in my house, to my knowledge,” is equivalent to saying, “My wife is divorced if the entrusted item is in my house, unless I am unaware of its presence.” It is thus an exception in meaning. If a man says, “My wife is divorced if the entrusted item is in my house,” without any particular intention, he may validly make an exception by saying, “To my knowledge,” or, “Unless I am unaware of its presence,” provided he joins this directly to his oath, with no intervening silence. Merely forming that intention immediately after the oath does not avail him. Intention avails him only if he swore with that intention from the outset. Understand this point and apply it to analogous cases, for it is a sound and very subtle distinction.
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An exception can apply only to one of two things: first, a specified numerical amount; and second, wording that conveys a general meaning but admits a restricted one.