or “I have set you free to go your way,” “I have no claim over you,” “I have released you,” “I have separated you from me,” or “I am, as regards you, utterly and irrevocably parted.” All of these expressions, in Mālik’s view, effect three divorces in every case where consummation has taken place, provided the husband utters them without a specific intention; for a marriage that has not been consummated, his intention is investigated. A second report from Mālik, shared by a group of his companions and by other scholars, holds that intention is considered for all of these phrases and that only the number of divorces he actually means becomes binding; in my estimation this is the sounder opinion. Another narration from Mālik singles out the wording al-batta (“absolute severance”) from among all the other indirect formulas, ruling that no intention is taken into account for it—whether or not the marriage has been consummated.
Mālik’s statements also differ concerning a man’s telling his wife, “Observe your waiting period,” “I have left you,” or “Your rope is on your own hump.” In one report he said that no intention is considered in any of these cases, whether the marriage was consummated or not, and that is the position I adopt.
Whoever says to his wife, “You are free,” intending thereby a divorce, then the divorce is effected according to Mālik; and if he says to his female slave, “You are ṭāliq,” intending emancipation, she becomes free.
If a wife says to her husband, “Grant me khulʿ for ten dinars,” she has no further claim to her bridal dower, for she has paid him and thereby ransomed herself. But if she says, “Divorce me for ten dinars,” he is entitled only to those ten dinars, while she still has the right to her entire dower if the marriage had been consummated, or to half of it if it had not. Ashhab maintained that the two situations are identical and that the wife’s dower is not forfeited unless she explicitly says, “This is from my dower,” “This is in place of my dower,” or something similar.
Ibn al-Qāsim distinguished between consummated and non-consummated marriages when a settlement (ṣulḥ) is reached, and—leaving the basic ruling intact—he allowed the consummated wife to reclaim from the husband whatever remains of her dower, agreeing with Ashhab in both cases.
As for one who merely determines in his heart to divorce but does not voice it, nothing takes effect.