unless the person who swore the oath chooses to effect the divorce, in which case he may do so without expiation.

This is the view of a group of earlier and later scholars, including Tāwūs and others. It is also what the reports from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) imply on this subject. Many Mālikī scholars and others issue fatwas accordingly. Indeed, it is said that leading Mālikī scholars in many parts of the Maghreb issue fatwas to this effect. This is also what Ahmad ibn Hanbal’s explicit statements and principles imply in several places.

According to this view, if someone repeats an oath that may be expiated twice or three times concerning a single act, must he offer one expiation or several? Scholars hold two views, both of which are reported from Ahmad. The better-known report from him is that one expiation suffices.

Ibn Hazm and others have related these three views concerning oaths involving divorce, just as they have related them concerning oaths involving emancipation, vows, and other matters. Thus, if someone says, “If I do such-and-such, my slaves are free,” the same three views apply. Here, however, none of the jurists of Abū Hanīfa’s or al-Shāfi‘ī’s schools has said that he is not bound to emancipate them, as they have said concerning divorce. A vow to emancipate is therefore valid, unlike a vow to divorce.

What is reported from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is that expiation for an oath suffices. This is established from Ibn ‘Umar, Hafsa, and Zaynab, and they also reported it from ‘Ā’isha.