to Sawdah bint Zam'ah: 'Observe the waiting period,' and he considered it a divorce (28). Hushaym narrated, reporting from al-A'mash, from al-Minhal ibn 'Amr, that Nu'aym ibn Dajajah al-Asadi divorced his wife twice, then said: 'She is a burden (haraj) to me.' He wrote to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab regarding this, and he said: 'Indeed, it is not the least of them' (29). As for the other expressions, if we say they are manifest, it is because their meaning is the meaning of the manifest [expressions]. For his statement: 'I have no path over you,' and 'I have no authority over you' only occurs in the case of a 'mabtutah' (a woman thrice-divorced or irrevocably divorced). As for the revocable divorcee, he has a path and authority over her. His statement: 'You are free' or 'I have emancipated you' necessitates the departure of slavery from her and her being cleared of it, and slavery here means the marital bond. His statement: 'You are forbidden' necessitates her being separated from him, because the revocable divorcee (30) is not forbidden. Likewise: 'You are lawful for husbands [again]'—because you have become 'bint' (separated/severed) from me. The same applies to all others. If we say they are [interpreted as] one (31), it is because they are susceptible to interpretation; for his statement: 'You are lawful for husbands' means after the completion of your waiting period, since her lawfulness is not possible before that, and one [divorce] makes her lawful. Likewise (32): 'Marry whom you wish,' and the rest of the expressions, their meaning is realized after the completion of her waiting period. The third category is the obscure ones, such as: 'Get out,' 'Go away,' 'Taste [the consequences],' 'Swallow [the bitterness],' 'You are released,' 'Choose,' 'I have gifted you to your family,' and all else that points to separation and carries the meaning of divorce other than what was previously mentioned. These count as three if he intended three, two if he intended them, and one if he intended it or left it absolute. Ahmad said: 'What is manifest of divorce is according to what is manifest, and what he meant by divorce is according to what he meant,' such as: 'Your rope is on your shoulder' if he intended one, two, or three.