the empowerment as well. Under the first opinion, if while they are still seated they shift to any other subject, affair, or activity—not in any way related to the empowerment—her authority is nullified. Some of our colleagues support this ruling with the Divine words, “Do not sit with them until they turn to some other discourse” (Qur’an 4:140).
The point at which empowerment (tamlīk) diverges from giving the option (takhyīr) in the view of Mālik and his companions is that, once he empowers his wife, he may say, “I have put part of the divorce in your hand, not all of it,” or, “I have placed one pronouncement in your hand,” or, “I have placed more,” and he must swear to that effect. The wife, for her part, may likewise carry out only the portion assigned to her—unlike the case with takhyīr.
Typical wording of empowerment includes: “Your affair is in your hand,” “Your divorce is in your hand,” “Divorce yourself,” and the like. Whatever authority he has thus transferred remains with her; she may exercise it as she wishes so long as the two of them remain in the same session. Mālik also said that what is in her hand remains established and is not terminated merely by her standing up from the session, as we have already related from him concerning takhyīr.
According to this second view, if a man empowers his wife regarding her affair and she says, “I accept,” “I am content,” or “I choose,” and they then part before she issues a pronouncement of divorce, the empowerment still stands. Should she say, “I accept my affair; if I choose to divorce, it is mine to do,” then the choice is hers; if she does not wish to divorce, no divorce takes place. But if she says, “I accept and I choose myself,” a divorce becomes binding upon him by that statement. If, after saying “I choose myself,” she claims she did not intend a divorce, her claim is not accepted.
If she merely says, “I accept the empowerment,” and, when asked what she meant, replies, “I meant nothing,” nothing becomes binding on the husband. Anyone who says to his wife, “Your affair is in your hand,” and she answers, “I accept,” is asked what she intended by her acceptance: if she intended a divorce, one revocable pronouncement takes effect; if she says