of generality by specification. Al-Qadi said: It is possible that she is not divorced, because his wording is general, and the general is susceptible to specification.

Section: If he says: 'You are divorced if you enter the house,' then he says: 'I only intended divorce at the present time, but my tongue slipped to the condition,' she is divorced at the present time, because he confessed against himself to what necessitates divorce, so it is binding upon him, just as if he said: 'I have divorced her.' If he says after that: 'I lied, and I only intended her divorce upon the condition,' he is believed in that between him and Allah, but it is not accepted in legal judgment, because it is a retraction of what he confessed to.

Section: Al-Khiraqi's statement: 'And he makes an exception (istithna') in his heart,' indicates by its implication that if he makes the exception with his tongue, it is valid, and what he excepted does not occur. This is the position of the majority of scholars. Ibn al-Mundhir said: All those whom we have memorized from among the scholars have agreed that if a man says to his wife: 'You are three divorces except one,' she is divorced two [divorces]. Among them are al-Thawri, al-Shafi'i, and the Ahl al-Ra'y (the Rationalists). It is narrated from Abu Bakr that the exception does not affect the number of divorces, and [that exception] is only permissible for [already] divorced women. Thus, if he said: 'You are three divorces except one,' all three occur. And if he said: 'My wives are divorced except so-and-so,' she is not divorced; because divorce cannot be lifted after it has occurred, and an exception would lift it if it were valid. What he mentioned regarding the reasoning is invalidated by what he conceded regarding exception in the case of [already] divorced women; for the exception is not a lifting of what has occurred, since if it were so, it would not be valid in the case of divorced women, nor in manumission (freeing a slave), nor in confession, nor in reporting. Rather, it is an explanation that the excepted [item] was not intended by the statement; it prevents from entering into it what would have otherwise entered. Thus, His saying: "And he stayed among them a thousand years, except fifty years" (Surah al-'Ankabut: 14) is an expression of nine hundred and fifty. And His saying: "Indeed, I am innocent of what you worship, except for He who created me" (Surah al-Zukhruf: 26-27) is an acquittal from other than Allah. Likewise is his statement: 'You are three divorces except one'; it is an expression of two and nothing more. The particle of exception that dominates it is 'illa' (except), and names, verbs, and particles are likened to it. The names are 'ghayr' (other than) and 'siwa' (besides), and the verbs are 'laysa' (is not) and 'la yakunu' (is not), and 'ada' (except for), and the particles are 'hasha' (except for) and 'khala' (except for). So by whichever word he makes the exception, the exception is valid.