Does divorcing a wife with half a divorce or any fraction thereof result in a full divorce?
Chapter on Divorce by Calculation
Al-Mughni
Book of Divorce
Primary text
Divorcing a wife with half a divorce, or any fraction thereof no matter how small, results in one complete divorce. This is the position held by the general body of scholars, including Al-Sha'bi, Al-Harith Al-'Uکلی, Al-Zuhri, Qatadah, Al-Shafi'i, the Ahl Al-Ra'y (Hanafi school), and Abu Ubayd. Abu Ubayd stated this is also the position of Malik and the people of Hijaz, Al-Thawri, and the people of Iraq. The evidence for this is that mentioning a part of what is indivisible in divorce implies the entirety of it, similar to stating, 'Half of you is divorced.'
Supporting text
Dawud opposed this view, maintaining that such an utterance does not effect a divorce. Ibn al-Mundhir reported a consensus among the scholars he knew affirming that it does result in a divorce.