What is the ruling regarding a man saying to his wife: "You are absolutely divorced," intending that she is free in her actions?

Divorce is not necessitated by these two phrases if divorce was not intended, but rather only an answer was intended. This is what Imam Malik ruled in the المدونة (Al-Mudawwana). In such cases, a person is entrusted to their own piety. So, whenever one knows within themselves that they did not intend divorce, it is not binding upon them, as Ibn Qudamah stated.