If he explicitly qualifies the wording of divorce in this way, no divorce takes effect, without doubt. If he intends that meaning without expressing the qualification, his word is accepted as a matter between him and Allah, although whether it is accepted in court is disputed.

Thus, if he qualifies the wording of divorce by saying, “You are divorced in return for one thousand,” and she says, “I accept”; or she says, “Divorce me in return for one thousand,” and he says, “I divorce you,” this is a divorce qualified by compensation. It is not divorce in the unqualified sense used in Allah’s Book. Allah made that divorce revocable, prescribed for it a waiting period of three cycles, and set its number at three, thereby establishing three rulings for it.

Divorce in return for compensation, however, is not revocable, as established by the revealed text and scholarly consensus. Nor, according to the Sunnah, does the woman observe a waiting period of three cycles. It must therefore not be counted among the three divorces. This is because it does not fall within the meaning of “divorce” when that term is used without qualification; rather, it is described as divorce only with a qualification. Similarly, an oath expressed in the form of a vow is called a “vow of obstinacy and anger.” It is called a vow with a qualification because its wording is that of a vow, although in reality it belongs to the category of oaths, not vows, according to the Companions, the majority of the early generations, al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad and others.

Likewise, the word “water,” when used without qualification, does not include semen, although semen may be called water with a qualification, as in the words of the Most High:

“He was created from gushing water, emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.”

Similarly, the term “leather sock,” when used without qualification, does not include one that has been cut down, although it may be called a “cut-down leather sock.” Thus, a cut-down leather sock is not included in the expression “wiping over the two leather socks”