What is the ruling on the financial consideration if a wife requests divorce for consideration, but the husband pronounces *khul'*?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Khul' (Redemption Divorce)

Book 38 · Issue 3 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

If a wife requests divorce for a thousand, and the husband replies, 'I release you' (*khala'tuka*), the thousand is due if the utterance is interpreted as a divorce, or if the husband intended divorce when saying it, as 'release' (*khul'*) is an implicit term for divorce. If the utterance is not considered a divorce, and the husband did not intend divorce, the consideration is not due because the husband did not comply with what she offered the exchange for, nor does the pronouncement inherently contain her request (which sought to reduce the divorce count).

Supporting text

If the consideration is not due, the *khul'* itself may be invalid because the pronouncement was predicated upon the expectation of receiving compensation. Alternatively, it may be treated as a *khul'* without consideration, carrying the attendant scholarly disagreements regarding its validity.