Is divorce finalized by saying 'yes' in response to an inquiry about divorce?
Chapter on Explicit Divorce and Others
Al-Mughni
Book of Divorce
Primary text
If a person is asked, 'Have you divorced your wife?' and replies 'Yes,' or is asked, 'Is your wife divorced?' and replies 'Yes,' his wife is divorced, even without forming a specific intention for divorce. This is the correct position within the Shafi'i school and the preferred view of Al-Muzani, because an affirmative response ('Yes') to an explicit question constitutes an explicit confirmation, analogous to affirming a debt when asked if one owes a specific sum.
Supporting text
If asked, 'Have you divorced your wife?' and the person replies, 'Some of that has occurred' (*qad kana ba'du dhalik*) and states, 'I intended to enact it,' the divorce is confirmed because the response is susceptible to what he stated. If he claims, 'I intended to inform about a past event,' or if asked, 'Do you have a wife?' and replies, 'I have divorced her,' and subsequently claims, 'I meant that I divorced her in another marriage,' this is accountable between him and God. However, in legal judgment, if the situation he claims (the prior divorce) did not occur, his statement is not accepted because it does not align with his reply. If the prior divorce did occur, the ruling depends on two interpretations.