What is the ruling when a husband says, 'You are divorced two and one except one'?
Chapter on Explicit Divorce and Others
Al-Mughni
Book of Divorce
Primary text
There are two differing views on the utterance 'You are divorced two and one except one.' The sounder view, which is the position of Abu Hanifa and Al-Shafi'i, holds that the exception is invalid. This is because the exception serves to nullify the entire final clause without addition, rendering the mention and exception of that clause nugatory. Any exception whose validation leads to nullifying the exception base is void, similar to excepting the whole number. Furthermore, nullifying only the exception is preferable to nullifying it along with something else. The second view permits the exception, resulting in two divorces. This is based on the conjunction 'wa' (and), which makes the two clauses a single statement, meaning the speaker is excepting one from a total of three, analogous to saying 'I owe one hundred and twenty dirhams except fifty,' which is valid.
Supporting text
The view invalidating the exception suggests that the exception refers to the latter clause alone in one interpretation, effectively making it an exception of the entirety. The view validating the exception relies on the conjunction 'wa' making the two clauses one, leading to the structure of excepting one from three.