As for the position of Abū Hanīfa and al-Shāfiʿī, they regard this condition as invalid and nonbinding. Accordingly, it is as though he had granted this authority without any prior stipulation. Agency is a revocable contract by scholarly consensus, so he may revoke it.

When the scholars differed over the case of a husband saying to his wife, “The power to divorce yourself is in your hands,” al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad, and others said that this amounts to appointing her as his agent, and that he may revoke the authorization before she makes her choice. Abū Hanīfa and Mālik said that it amounts to conferring the power upon her, so he cannot take it away from her.

However, the case at hand falls under the position of Mālik, Ahmad, and others who hold that a husband may include in the marriage contract a stipulation by which his wife gains control of al-tarq if he marries another woman. Undoubtedly, she possesses this authority only while her marriage remains in force. Once he has irrevocably divorced her, she has no entitlement under that condition. Allah knows best.

He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

A man had an exchange with his wife while preparing to travel. He told his agent, “If she is satisfied with this customary maintenance, give her the maintenance. If she is not satisfied with the maintenance, hand her her document.”

After the husband departed, the agent handed her her document, pronounced one revocable divorce on the husband’s behalf, and sent word to him that he had pronounced one revocable divorce. When the husband learned of this, he could not bear it, so he called witnesses to attest that he had taken her back and sent for her. When the agent heard that he had taken his wife back, he stated that he had divorced her three times on the husband’s behalf. Is the man permitted to take his wife back after this statement by the agent?