What is the husband entitled to if he fulfills part of a condition requiring a specific payment upon fulfillment of an action (e.g., receiving one out of two required slaves)?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Khul' (Redemption Divorce)
Primary text
If a wife states that if the husband does something specific related to property (e.g., receiving property worth a total of one thousand), he is entitled to the full amount upon complete fulfillment. If he only fulfills a portion, he is not entitled to anything. This is because the consideration (al-'iwad) was offered for an action that was not entirely obligatory for him to perform in that specific manner, akin to a competition where only partial success occurs. The ruling is that the divorce takes effect if the condition was fulfilled partially in a divorce context, but the husband receives no financial compensation.
Supporting text
Abu Hanifa, Malik, and Al-Shafi'i hold that the husband is entitled to a proportional share of the compensation (e.g., one-third of one thousand). They argue that since the wife requested an action in exchange for a price, partial performance merits partial compensation, similar to cases involving building a wall or tailoring a garment. We counter that the consideration was offered for a whole act, and partial completion does not necessitate compensation, similar to a situation where a wife seeks a triple divorce for a thousand and only receives one divorce; in that latter case, Abu Hanifa agrees that the husband receives nothing.