What is the ruling if a husband says to his wife, 'You are divorced, one divorce, rather, two divorces'?
Chapter on Divorce by Calculation
Al-Mughni
Book of Divorce
Primary text
Two divorces occur. Ahmad explicitly stated this ruling. The justification is that what was stated before the retraction ('one divorce') is a part of what was stated after ('two divorces'), thus the ruling defaults to the latter, greater stated number, similar to when someone says, 'I owe you one dirham, rather two dirhams,' where two are owed. If the husband intended the statement 'rather you are divorced' to signify an additional divorce, then two divorces occur because he intended to enact two divorces through two utterances, which is like saying, 'You are divorced, you are divorced.'
Supporting text
The Shafi'i school, in one of its views, holds that three divorces occur because the initial statement 'You are divorced' is an enactment (iqa'a), and enacting it twice is impermissible, suggesting he enacted it, then sought to revoke it, and enacted two more. This is rejected because one can report an occurrence while enacting another, and the excess is not established due to doubt.