He replied:

Praise be to Allah.

If, by saying, “If you say, ‘Divorce me,’ I shall divorce you,” he did not intend to divorce her at that gathering, then he is instead to divorce her in the presence of witnesses. If he had no particular intention, he does not break his oath if they part without a divorce being pronounced; however, he is to divorce her afterwards, pronouncing the divorce he intended by his oath. If he did not intend to divorce her three times or twice, a single pronouncement of divorce suffices.

This applies if his intention was to comply with her request unconditionally. But if he intended to comply with her request only so long as she wanted a divorce, and she then withdraws her request and says, “I do not want a divorce,” nothing is incumbent upon him if he does not divorce her. And Allah knows best.

He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked about a man who, while living with his wife somewhere other than her residence, said to her:

“If I stay with you, you are divorced; and if I reside with you, you are divorced.”

Then he also said:

“You are forbidden to me.”

He then moved himself and his belongings elsewhere, without his wife, while she returned to her original residence. If he returns and stays with his wife, does one divorce take effect or two? Is residing the same as staying, or is one broader in scope than the other?

If he did not intend divorce by declaring her forbidden to him, does divorce take effect just as it would if he had intended it? And if there is a legal position that resolves this situation but differs from his own school of law, is he permitted to follow it or not?