does it effect an irrevocable separation that does not count as one of the three divorces, but is instead an annulment? There are two well-known views.

The first is the position of Abū Hanīfah, Mālik, and many of the early scholars. It has also been attributed to a number of the Companions, but it has not been authentically established from any of them. Indeed, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn al-Mundhir, and others judged all the reports attributed to the Companions on this matter to be weak.

The second view is that it effects an irrevocable separation without counting as one of the three divorces. This is authentically established from Ibn Abbās, as the hadith experts agree. It was also the view of his students, such as Tāwūs and Ikrimah, and is one of al-Shāfi‘ī’s two positions. It is the apparent position of Ahmad ibn Hanbal and other hadith jurists, and was also held by Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, Abū Thawr, Dāwūd, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Khuzaymah, and others.

Ibn Abbās supported this view by pointing out that Allah Most High mentions compensated release after two divorces, then says:

“If he then divorces her, she is not lawful for him thereafter until she marries another husband.”

If compensated release were itself a divorce, the total number of divorces would therefore be four.

Those who hold this view then disagreed: must compensated release be expressed using wording other than “divorce”? Must it be expressed only in terms of release, annulment, or redemption, with the additional condition that he does not intend divorce? Or does it make no difference whether he intends divorce or not, so that it constitutes compensated release whatever wording is used, whether “divorce” or anything else?

There are several positions on these questions within Ahmad’s school and elsewhere. The soundest is the last, which is supported by the statements of Ibn Abbās and his students, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and his early followers: compensated release is separation in return for compensation. Thus, whenever he parts from her in return for compensation, she is