He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked about a man who said to his wife:

“This son of your husband is not to enter any house of mine, for he is my son; I raised him.”

When he complained about him to his father, the latter asked the husband, “If your wife releases you from your obligations, will you divorce her?”

He replied, “Yes.”

He then brought her, and the husband said to her, “If you release me from my obligations under your document and the deed you hold against me, then you are divorced?”

She said, “Yes.”

They parted, and the husband went upstairs to his neighbours’ home and said, “She is divorced three times.” He then went down to the witnesses, who asked him, “How many times was she divorced?”

He replied, “Three,” referring to what he had pronounced. Does the threefold divorce take effect against him?

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. If, as the context indicates, her release of him from his obligations was not unconditional, but rather conditional upon his divorcing her, then she became irrevocably divorced from him, and no subsequent divorce took effect upon her. A condition agreed before a contract is like one stipulated when it is concluded, and a condition understood through custom is like one expressly stated.

The question put to him by the man acting on her behalf—“If your wife comes and releases you from your obligations, will you divorce her?”—and his reply amount to a stipulation that he divorce her if she releases him. His subsequently bringing her, his saying, “You, if you release me,” and her replying, “Yes,” are to be understood on that basis: if she releases him, he will divorce her.

Thus, if she said, “I have released him,” but he refused to divorce her, the release would not be valid. In customary usage, this constitutes an offer and acceptance, in view of the preceding conditions and the circumstances. Its meaning is: “I release you from your obligations on condition that you divorce me.”