All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, we thank you for your admiration of our website, and we ask Allah to benefit you through its content, to bless us and you with sincerity in words and actions, and to accept from us, as He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.
Secondly, we did not contradict ourselves in these three fatwas, and we did not give different statements regarding their content. Rather, we stated in all of them that divorce does not take place.
The reason in the first and third fatwas (224341and 329521) is that the authorization was not made with explicit words; rather, it was like a metaphor, so, we mentioned that this depends on the intention. As for the second fatwa (286363), the reason is that the wife did not choose divorce.
Thirdly: the fact that the word “divorce” is mentioned does not necessarily mean that such a divorce is explicit; it may sometimes come as a report, and not an initiation of divorce, like when the husband speaks about the divorce of another man, for example. The word divorce may also be mentioned as a lie when informing about it; so, according to the most preponderant view of the jurists, it does not take place. Also, the divorce may be in the present or future tense, intended to be a threat, such as when he says to his wife, “You will be divorced.”
Fourthly: If the husband says to his wife, “If you want a divorce, it is up to you”; then this wording is not explicit in authorizing her to divorce herself. His intention is what counts. So if the husband did not intend with this statement to authorize her to divorce herself, it is not an authorization for her.
Allah knows best.