Muwatta Malik 1183

These are the words of a Successor — the generation after the Companions — not of the Prophet ﷺ.

وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَهُ يَقُولُ إِذَا خَيَّرَ الرَّجُلُ امْرَأَتَهُ فَاخْتَارَتْهُ فَلَيْسَ ذَلِكَ بِطَلاَقٍ ‏.‏ قَالَ مَالِكٌ وَذَلِكَ أَحْسَنُ مَا سَمِعْتُ ‏.‏ قَالَ مَالِكٌ فِي الْمُخَيَّرَةِ إِذَا خَيَّرَهَا زَوْجُهَا فَاخْتَارَتْ نَفْسَهَا فَقَدْ طَلُقَتْ ثَلاَثًا وَإِنْ قَالَ زَوْجُهَا لَمْ أُخَيِّرْكِ إِلاَّ وَاحِدَةً فَلَيْسَ لَهُ ذَلِكَ ‏.‏ وَذَلِكَ أَحْسَنُ مَا سَمِعْتُهُ ‏.‏ قَالَ مَالِكٌ وَإِنْ خَيَّرَهَا فَقَالَتْ قَدْ قَبِلْتُ وَاحِدَةً وَقَالَ لَمْ أُرِدْ هَذَا وَإِنَّمَا خَيَّرْتُكِ فِي الثَّلاَثِ جَمِيعًا أَنَّهَا إِنْ لَمْ تَقْبَلْ إِلاَّ وَاحِدَةً أَقَامَتْ عِنْدَهُ عَلَى نِكَاحِهَا وَلَمْ يَكُنْ ذَلِكَ فِرَاقًا إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى ‏.‏

Malik said that if a slave-girl, who was the wife of a slave, was set free before he had consummated the marriage, and she chose herself, then she had no bride-price and it was a pronouncement of divorce. That was what was done among them. Yahya related to me that Malik heard Ibn Shihab say, "When a man gives his wife the right of choice, and she chooses him, that is not divorce." Malik added, "That is the best of what I have heard." Malik said that if a woman who had been given the right of choice by her husband chose herself, she was divorced trebly. If her husband said, "But I only gave her the right of choice in one," he had none of that. That was the best of what he had heard. Malik said, "If the man gives his wife the right of choice and she says, 'I accept one', and he says, 'I did not mean that, I have given the right of choice in all three together,' then if she only accepts one, she remains with him in her marriage, and that is not separation if Allah, the Exalted wills