that he says "like this" is an explicit comparison via his fingers regarding the number, and this serves as a clarification, just as the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "The month is like this, and like this, and like this," and he gestured with his hands once thirty times, and once twenty-nine times. If he says: "I intended the gesture by the two closed fingers," it is accepted from him, because it allows for what he claims.

The second situation: If he writes the divorce, then if he intended it, his wife is divorced. This is the view of al-Sha'bi, al-Nakha'i, al-Zuhri, al-Hakam, Abu Hanifa, and Malik. This is the text narrated from al-Shafi'i. Some of his companions mentioned that he has another view, that no divorce occurs by it, even if he intended it, because it is an act from someone capable of speech, so divorce does not occur by it, just like a gesture. Our argument is that writing is composed of letters from which divorce is understood; so if he performs the divorce in it, it is understood from it, and he intended it, it occurs, just like a verbal utterance. Furthermore, writing stands in place of the writer's speech, as evidenced by the fact that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was ordered to deliver his message, and this was accomplished for some by speech, and for others by writing to the kings of the surrounding lands. Also, a judge's written decree stands in place of his verbal statement in establishing debts and rights. As for if he wrote it without intention, Abu al-Khattab said: The judge al-Sharif has derived from it in