When does divorce take effect if a husband says, "You are divorced until such and such month/year"?
Chapter on Explicit Divorce and Others
Al-Mughni
Book of Divorce
Primary text
If a husband states, "You are divorced until such and such month or year," the divorce takes effect only at the beginning of that specified time. This view is held by Al-Shafi'i. The evidence supporting this is derived from the statements attributed to Ibn Abbas and Abu Dharr. Furthermore, this phrasing can be interpreted as setting a specific time for the pronouncement to take effect, similar to saying, "I will leave in one year." Since the statement admits of two interpretations, the divorce does not take effect based on doubt (Shak). This interpretation is stronger because the statement establishes an endpoint for the divorce, meaning the endpoint applies to its beginning, and it adheres to certainty (Yaqin) over doubt.
Supporting text
Abu Hanifa holds that the divorce takes effect immediately because the core statement "You are divorced" is an immediate declaration, and the addition "until such and such month" is a temporal qualification which he argues is inadmissible for divorce pronouncements, thus voiding the qualification and rendering the divorce immediate.