«وَقَدْ تُفِيدُ كَلِمَةُ إِلَى تَأْخِيرَ الْحُكْمِ إِلَى الْغَايَةِ»
Sometimes ila postpones the legal effect until the specified limit.
«أَنْتِ طَالِقٌ إِلَى شَهْرٍ»
“You are divorced at the end of a month.”
The interpretation distinguishes an immediate divorce from a divorce postponed until the stated time. The Hanafi position treats it as deferred, while a contrary view is attributed to Imam Zufar.
This is not an act continuing until an endpoint; it is a ruling whose occurrence itself is temporally deferred.