He replied:

Praise be to Allah. She does not become forbidden to him by that statement. There are, however, two views concerning it:

The first is that he may marry her without incurring any further obligation. The second is that he must offer expiation: either the expiation for zihār, according to one view, or the expiation for breaking an oath, according to another.

Likewise, the position of al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad and others is that he may marry her and that no divorce takes effect through this statement, although there is disagreement over expiation. Only those who allow divorce to be made conditional upon marriage, such as Abū Hanīfah and Mālik, hold that divorce takes effect through such a statement—and then only if a declaration that she is forbidden to him is regarded as divorce, as Mālik holds, or if he intends divorce by it, as Abū Hanīfah holds.

As for al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad, according to them, even if he says, “Whenever I marry you, you are divorced,” no divorce takes effect. How much less, then, through a declaration that she is forbidden to him! Ahmad, however, according to the well-known view reported from him, allows a declaration of zihār made before marriage to be deemed valid and binding upon him, unlike al-Shāfi‘ī. And Allah knows best.