the two inheritance cases adjudicated by Umar, proportional reduction (1), and other questions (* of inheritance. They also differed over the question (2) of declaring one’s wife forbidden to oneself, pronouncing a triple divorce in a single utterance, and using the formulas “You are free” (3), “You are released” (4), and “You are irrevocably divorced” (5), as well as other questions of divorce. They likewise differed over questions *) (6) that have remained matters of dispute within the Muslim community to this day.
Their disagreements during Umar’s caliphate arose entirely from independent legal reasoning: each accepted his fellow’s exercise of independent judgment, like the disagreements (7) among jurists who possess knowledge and religious integrity.
During Uthman’s caliphate, however, disagreement intensified over certain matters, to the point that some exchanged harsh words. Yet they did not fight one another physically (8)—not with swords or by any other means.
During Ali’s caliphate, the disagreement grew still more severe, until they fought one another with swords.
(1) (N) reads *al-azl* (“withdrawal”), which is a textual corruption. Al-Jurjānī states in *al-Ta'rīfāt*: “It means inclination toward inequity and increase. In Sacred Law, it is when the sum of the allotted shares exceeds the prescribed denominator; the denominator is therefore increased to the total number of shares, and each heir’s entitlement is proportionately reduced.” *Al-Mu'jam al-Wasīt* states: “In inheritance law, *al-awl* (proportional reduction) occurs when the allotted portions exceed the prescribed denominator, causing their values to be reduced in proportion to the shares.”
(2) (N): “questions.”
(3) *Al-Mu'jam al-Wasīt* states: “The expression ‘You are free’ is one of the allusive formulas of divorce. If a woman is told, ‘You are free,’ and the speaker intends divorce by it, the divorce takes effect.”
(4) In Ibn Hazm’s *al-Muhallā*, 10/186 (al-Munīriyya ed., 1352 AH): “No expression other than these effects a divorce at all, whether or not divorce is intended thereby, whether by fatwa or judicial ruling. Such expressions include: ‘You are free,’ ‘You are unbound,’ ‘You are absolved,’ ‘I have released you,’ ‘Your rein is upon your withers,’ *al-haraj* (‘extreme constraint’), and ‘I have given you back to your family,’ or to whomever else the speaker names.”
(5) *Al-Mu'jam al-Wasīt* states: “‘He made his wife’s divorce final’ means that he rendered it irrevocable, with no right of revocation.” See *al-Muhallā*, 10/187–194.
(6) The text between the two asterisks is omitted from (M).
(7) (N) and (M): “like the rest of.”
(8) (B) only: “by hand.”