What is the ruling regarding the husband's right to the specified compensation when the wife demands he divorce her three times for a fixed sum, but only one divorce remains to be issued?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Khul' (Redemption Divorce)
Primary text
When a wife says, 'Divorce me three times for a thousand,' and only one divorce remains to be issued, if the husband then divorces her once or three times, she becomes irrevocably separated by three divorces (bā'inah bi-thalāth). The companions of our school rule that the husband deserves the full thousand, regardless of whether the wife knew that only one divorce remained or not. This is the explicit position of Al-Shafi'i. The rationale is that this single divorce completes the three demanded, achieving the separation (baynūnah) and the prohibition of remarriage that results from three divorces, thus necessitating the full compensation, just as if he had pronounced three divorces.
Supporting text
Al-Muzani holds that the husband deserves only one-third of the thousand because he only executed one-third of what she requested, similar to a case where the divorce was explicitly three times in that step. Ibn Suraij states that if the wife knew only one divorce remained, the husband deserves the full thousand, but if she did not know, the ruling follows Al-Muzani's opinion because, if she was aware, the meaning of her statement was to complete the three divorces, which he accomplished.