If the husband had a specific intention (niyyah) in the aforementioned scenarios, how is the ruling affected?
Chapter on Explicit Divorce and Others
Al-Mughni
Book of Divorce
Primary text
If the husband intended through his general utterance to exclude the requesting wife, he is held accountable for this intention in his relation to God (Allah) in both scenarios. In the second scenario (where the wife asked him to divorce his wives), his statement is accepted in judicial ruling because the specificity of the cause (her request) serves as evidence of his intention. However, his intention is not accepted in the first scenario (where she asked for her own divorce).
Supporting text
Ibn Hamid states that his declaration is not accepted in the first scenario because his divorce statement is an answer to her request for divorce for herself, and therefore, he cannot be believed in diverting it away from her, as this contradicts the apparent meaning in two aspects. Furthermore, the wife's request is the cause of the divorce, and the cause of the ruling cannot be excluded from the generality of the utterance by specific exception.