1261 - Issue: He said: "And if it is said to him: 'Do you have a wife?' and he says: 'No,' and he intended a lie by it, nothing is incumbent upon him. And if he says: 'I have divorced her,' and intended a lie by it, the divorce is incumbent upon him."

He is only exempted if he intended a lie, because his saying "I do not have a wife" is an allusion that requires an intention of divorce, and when he intended a lie, he did not intend divorce, so it did not occur. Likewise, if he intended that "I do not have a wife who serves me," or "who pleases me," or "that I am like one who has no wife," or he did not intend anything, she is not divorced due to the lack of the intention required for an allusion. If he intended her divorce by this wording, she is divorced, because it is an allusion accompanied by intention. This is the opinion of al-Zuhri, Malik, Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman, Abu Hanifah, and al-Shafi'i. Abu Yusuf and Muhammad said: She is not divorced, for this is not an allusion; it is merely a statement in which he is lying, and it is not an act of divorce (iqa'). Our position is that it is susceptible to being divorce, because when he divorces her, she is no longer his wife, so it resembles his saying: "You are separated (ba'in)," and other explicit allusions, which invalidates their argument. As for if he says: "I divorced her," and intended a lie, she is divorced, because the wording of divorce is explicit, and divorce occurs by it without intention. And if he says: "I have released her (khallaytuha)" or "I have separated from her (abantuha)," it requires an intention, because it is an allusion by which divorce does not occur without intention.

Section: If it is said to him: "Have you divorced your wife?" and he says: "Yes," or it is said to him: "Your wife is divorced," and he says: "Yes," his wife is divorced, even if he did not intend it. This is the correct [opinion] of the school of al-Shafi'i and the choice of al-Muzani, because "yes" is explicit in response, and an explicit response to an explicit wording is explicit. Do you not see that if it were said to him: "Does so-and-so have a thousand [dirhams] against you?" and he says: "Yes," it becomes binding upon him? If it is said to him: "Have you divorced your wife?" and he says: "Some of that has occurred," and says: "I intended the act of divorce," it occurs. If he says: "I intended that I suspended her divorce on a condition," it is accepted, because it is susceptible to what he said. If he says: "I intended to report a past event," or it is said to him: "Do you have a wife?" and he says: "I have divorced her," then he says: "I only meant that I divorced her in another marriage," he is deemed truthful between himself and Allah Almighty. As for in legal ruling, if that had not occurred from him, it is not accepted, because it is not susceptible to what he said, and if it had occurred, it is subject to two scenarios.