like the appointed agent. And because if he said, 'I have gifted you these three slaves,' and she said, 'I have accepted one of them,' it would be valid. Thus it is here. If he says, 'Divorce one,' and she divorces three, one occurs. Ahmad stated this as well. Malik and al-Shafi'i held this view. Abu Hanifa said: Nothing occurs; because she did not come with what qualifies as acceptance, so it is not valid, just as if he said, 'I have sold you half of this slave,' and he said, 'I accept the sale for all of it.' We hold that she has effected a divorce that was permitted and [also] other than it, so the permitted one occurs to the exclusion of the other, just as if he said, 'Divorce yourself,' and she divorced herself and her co-wives. If he says, 'Divorce yourself,' and she says, 'I am divorced if Zayd arrives,' it is not valid; because his permission was directed toward the immediate (munjaz), so it does not encompass that which is contingent upon a condition. The ruling for appointing a stranger as an agent in divorce is the same as the ruling for her in all that we have mentioned.

Section: Abu al-Harith reported from him, if he says, 'Divorce yourself in the manner of the Sunnah divorce,' and she says, 'I have divorced myself three times,' it is one [divorce], and he has the most right to take her back. This is only the case because the agency in a wording encompasses the least of what the wording applies to, which is one divorce, especially since the Sunnah divorce, in the correct view, is one divorce, performed during a period of purity in which he has not had intercourse with her.

Section: It is permissible to make the command of his wife in her hand in exchange for compensation, and its ruling is the ruling of that which has no compensation, in that he has the right to retract what he granted her, and that it is invalidated by intercourse. Ahmad said: If his wife says, 'Place my command in my hand, and I will give you my slave [here], and he receives the slave,' and he places her command in her hand, then she may choose as long as he has not had intercourse with her or revoked it; because it is an agency, and agency does not become binding [by the inclusion of compensation, and likewise, granting authority for compensation does not become binding] unless acceptance is attached to it, like a sale.