and twenty-one; because the emancipation of the fifth resulted in the emancipation of six, due to it being one, and it is five with what preceded it, and it was not possible to count it in the other conditions, because what preceded it had already been counted in that once, so it is not counted a second time.

1272 - Issue: He said: "If I do not divorce you, you are divorced," and he did not intend a specific time, and he did not divorce her until he died or she died. The divorce occurs at the very last moment of possibility.

The essence of this is that the particle "if" (in) is established for a conditional, not requiring or indicating a time, except for the fact that the action attached to it has time as an inherent necessity. What is obtained by necessity is not restricted to a specific time and does not require acceleration. Therefore, what is conditioned upon it remains delayed (at-tarakhi), and this applies equally to affirmation and negation. Based on this, if he said: "If I do not divorce you, you are divorced," and he did not intend a time and did not divorce her, this remains delayed, and he does not commit a breach (hanath) by delaying it; because every moment provides the possibility that he might do what he swore upon, so the time has not expired. When one of them dies, we know he has committed a breach at that point, because it is impossible to effect the divorce upon her after the death of either one of them. Thus, it becomes clear that it occurred, since no part of his life remained that could accommodate divorcing her. Abu Hanifa and al-Shafi'i stated this, and we know of no disagreement among the scholars regarding it. If he said: "If I do not divorce Amra, then Hafsa is divorced," then whichever of the three dies first, the divorce occurs just before their death, because his divorcing Hafsa in a manner that would dissolve his oath only occurs while all of them are alive. Similarly, if he said: "If I do not free my slave, or if I do not strike him, my wife is divorced," the divorce occurs at the final moment of the life of whoever among them dies first. As for if he specifies a time by his words or his intention, it becomes determined, and his oath is attached to it. Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: If he said, "If I do not strike so-and-so, you are divorced three times," it is according to what he intended by that; this is because the time for which the abandonment of the action was sworn is determined by his intention and will, so it becomes as if it were explicitly stated in his speech; for the basis of oaths rests upon intention, according to the statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "Actions are only by intentions."