Among them are those who say: One divorce occurs upon her immediately, and if he takes her back, another divorce occurs upon her, and she remains with him upon another. I do not approve of this opinion of theirs. It is possible that Ahmad made all three occur because, in his view, that is Sunnah. It is also possible that he made them occur because he described the three with that which is not applicable to them, so he voided the attribute and made the divorce occur, just as if he had said to a menstruating woman: You are divorced immediately according to the Sunnah. He has indeed said, in the narration of Abu al-Harith, that which indicates this; he said: The three occur upon her, and there is no meaning to his saying: according to the Sunnah. Abu Hanifah said: One divorce occurs in every menstrual cycle (qur'), and if she is one of those whose periods are counted by months, one divorce occurs in every month. He based this on his principle that the Sunnah is the separation of the three over the periods of purity, and we have explained that this falls under the ruling of gathering the three. If (3) he says: I meant by my statement: according to the Sunnah, the occurrence of one immediately, and two in two other marriages, it is accepted from him. If he says: I meant that one divorce should occur in every menstrual cycle, it is also accepted; because it is the school of thought of a group of scholars, and a tradition (athar) has been reported regarding it, so it is not far-fetched that he meant it. Our companions said: He is believed (yudayyan) (4). Is it accepted in the legal ruling (hukm)? There are two views: one of them is that it is not accepted; because that is not a Sunnah. The second is that it is accepted; because of what we have previously mentioned. If she was in a time of innovation, and he said: My tongue slipped to [saying: according to the Sunnah] (5), and I did not intend it; I only intended the occurrence immediately, it occurs immediately; because he is the master of causing it, so if he confesses to what causes it, it is accepted from him.

Section: If he says: You are divorced three times, some of them according to the Sunnah, and some of them according to the innovation, she is divorced immediately by two, and the third is delayed until the other state (6); because he equated the two states, and the apparent meaning requires that they be equal. Thus, one and a half divorces occur immediately, then the half is completed; because divorce is not divisible, so two divorces occur. It is possible that one divorce occurs, and two are delayed until the other state; because the "some" (ba'd) applies to less than the whole, and it covers the small amount of that and the large amount, so the least... (continues in next section).