the passage concerning compensation for release establishes a separate ruling. It therefore makes no difference whether it appears between the mention of the first two divorces and the third, or elsewhere. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, clarified this when he told Thābit ibn Qays ibn Shammās, “It counts as one divorce.” This is an explicit statement on the very point in dispute. Abū Thawr held that it constitutes a revocable divorce, but this is far-fetched: she only paid the money to remove the harm she suffered, and that harm is not removed unless she gains control over her own marital affairs. There is disagreement concerning a husband who releases his wife from marriage on condition that he gives her something, or that neither gives anything to the other. One view is that this constitutes a revocable divorce; this is Mutarrif’s position. Another is that it constitutes an irrevocable divorce; this is Ibn al-Qāsim’s position. A third is that it constitutes three divorces; this is Ibn al-Mājishūn’s position.
Section
Khulʿ may be concluded in exchange for what he gave her, or for more or less than that, because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:
“There is no blame on either of them concerning what she gives to obtain her release.” [al-Baqara: 229]
Were it as some people maintain—that a husband may not take more in khulʿ than he gave her—the wording would have been: “There is no blame on either of them concerning what she gives out of it to obtain her release.” For if someone were to say, “Do not insult so-and-so unless he insults you; if he insults you, there is no blame on you for whatever you do to him,” without adding “of the same” or “of that kind,” he would thereby have permitted him both to insult that person and to do whatever else he wished to him, such as striking him.
Section
Khulʿ may be concluded for uncertain or unspecified consideration, as indicated by the apparent generality of Allah’s words, Mighty and Majestic:
“There is no blame on either of them concerning what she gives to obtain her release.” [al-Baqara: 229]
Moreover, it is not like a sale, in which the price is sought; rather, its purpose is to release the wife from the husband’s marital authority. Uncertainty concerning the consideration therefore does not invalidate it. Consider marriage: since it is not a purely commercial transaction, but seeks mutual generosity and union, it may be contracted for an undescribed slave, unspecified household furnishings, or similar consideration involving minor uncertainty that cannot result in its complete loss, leaving marital intimacy without a dowry. This is because the dowry is a right prescribed by Allah Most High and cannot be waived. Khulʿ, however, involves no such right of Allah, and so it may be concluded