The point here is that the Book of Allah makes clear that divorce after consummation can only be revocable. The Book of Allah mentions no irrevocable divorce except before consummation or after the waiting period has expired. If a man divorces his wife three times, she becomes unlawful to him. This is the major irrevocable separation, which occurs only through three divorces, not through a single, unqualified divorce: the latter produces neither a major nor a minor irrevocable separation.

It is authentically reported that Ibn ‘Abbās was told, “The people of Yemen generally end their marriages through compensated release.” Ibn ‘Abbās replied, “Compensated release is not divorce.” He also returned a woman to her husband after two divorces and one compensated release. This is the apparent position of Ahmad ibn Hanbal’s school and one of al-Shāfi‘ī’s two positions.

Those who hold this view, however, disagreed over whether the ruling changes with the wording used. The correct view is that, when the meaning is the same, it is decisive regardless of the wording employed. This is because what matters is the purposes and realities of contracts, not their wording alone. Whatever constitutes compensated release remains compensated release, whatever the wording; whatever constitutes divorce remains divorce, whatever the wording; whatever constitutes an oath remains an oath, whatever the wording; whatever constitutes an oath of marital abstinence remains an oath of marital abstinence, whatever the wording; and whatever constitutes zihār remains zihār, whatever the wording.

Allah Most High mentions in His Book “divorce,” “oaths,” “zihār,” “oaths of marital abstinence,” and “a wife’s redeeming herself”—which is compensated release—and assigns each its own ruling. We must therefore understand the boundaries of what Allah revealed to His Messenger: classify as divorce whatever constitutes divorce; as an oath whatever constitutes an oath; as compensated release whatever constitutes compensated release; as zihār whatever constitutes zihār; and as an oath of marital abstinence whatever constitutes an oath of marital abstinence. This is what is established from the leading Companions and their jurists, and from those who followed them in righteousness. Some scholars, however, have confused some of these categories with others,