What is the legal consequence if a husband states the divorce count is like the count of dust (turab) or water (ma')?

Chapter on Divorce by Calculation

Al-Mughni

Book of Divorce

Book 39 · Issue 2 · Bab 3

Open in Qurani

Primary text

If the husband states, 'You are divorced like the count of dust or water,' the divorce is three times. The justification is that water is divisible into types and droplets, and dust is divisible into types and particles, making both analogous to pebbles (which implies three divorces).

Supporting text

Abu Hanifa holds that only one revocable divorce occurs because water and dust are names of categories (ajnas) and do not inherently possess a fixed count.