‘taliq’ (divorced) is an active participle (ism fa'il), and the active participle requires a verbal noun (masdar), just as the verb requires it. The verbal noun applies to both the few and the many. It differs from his statement, ‘You are menstruating’ or ‘You are pure,’ because menstruation and purity cannot be multiplied in her case, whereas divorce can be multiplied.

Section: If he says, ‘You are divorced a divorce (talaqan),’ and intends three, it occurs, because he explicitly mentioned the verbal noun, and the verbal noun applies to both the few and the many; so he has intended by his expression what it allows. If he intends one, it is one; and if he uses it absolutely (without specifying), it is one, because that is the certainty. If he says, ‘You are divorced the divorce (al-talaq),’ what he intended occurs. If he did not intend anything, the Qadi narrated two views regarding it: The first is that three occur, which Ahmad explicitly stated in the narration of Muhanna, because the alif and lam (the definite article) are for inclusiveness (istighraq), thus requiring the inclusion of all, which is three. The second is that it is one, because it is possible that the alif and lam return to a known reference, meaning ‘the divorce which I have already enacted.’ Moreover, the lam in nouns denoting genres is often used for purposes other than inclusiveness, such as his saying, ‘Whoever is coerced into divorce,’ ‘When the youth understands divorce,’ ‘I bathed with the water,’ ‘I performed tayammum with the dust,’ and ‘I studied science, hadith, and jurisprudence,’ and similar expressions where the genre is intended and inclusiveness is not understood from it. Consequently, it is not interpreted as universal except with an intent that diverts it to that. Likewise, if he says to his wife, ‘You are the divorce,’ Ahmad said: If he intended three, it is three; if he intended one, it is one. If he did not intend anything, the speech of Ahmad implies that it is three, because when he says, ‘You are the divorce,’ he has clarified; what else remains? It is three, and this is the choice of Abu Bakr. It is also derived from it that it is one, based on the issue before it. The reasoning for both views is as previously stated. Among what clarifies that the one is intended by it is the statement of the poet: