and 'ada' (except), and the particles are 'hasha' (except for) and 'khala' (except for). So by whichever word he makes the exception, the exception is valid.

Section: The exception of the majority (more than half) is not valid. Ahmad textually stated this. So if he says: 'You are divorced three times except two,' three occur. The majority hold that this is permissible. We have mentioned this in [the chapter on] Confession. We have also mentioned that the scholars of Arabic only permitted it in the case of a small amount from a large amount, and we have related this from a group of the Imams of the linguistic scholars. Thus, if he says: 'You are divorced three times except one,' two occur. If he says: 'Except two,' three occur. If he says: 'Two divorces except one,' there are two views regarding it: one is that one divorce occurs, and the second is that two occur, based on whether the exception of the half is valid or not; there are two views [on that]. If he says: 'You are divorced three times except three,' three occur, without disagreement; because the exception is for the purpose of removing some of what is excepted from, so it is not valid to remove all of it. If he says: 'You are divorced five times except three,' three occur; because if the exception refers to the five, he has excepted the majority, and if it refers to the three that he owns [as valid divorces], he has removed all of them. Both are invalid. If he says: 'Five [times] except one divorce,' there are two views regarding it: one is that three occur, because the speech with the exception is as if he uttered what is other than the excepted [portion], so it is as if he said: 'You are divorced four times.' The second is that two occur, mentioned by al-Qadi, because the exception refers to what he owns of the divorces, which is three, and what exceeds that is void. He has excepted one from the three, so it is valid, and two divorces occur. If he says: 'You are divorced four times except two,' then according to the first view, the exception is valid and two occur. According to the view of al-Qadi, the exception should not be valid and three occur; because the exception refers to the three [that he owns], so it constitutes an exception of the majority.

Section: If he says: 'You are divorced two [times] and one [time] except one,' there are two views regarding it: one is that the exception is not valid, because the exception removes the final phrase in its entirety without any addition to it,