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What should a wife do who is unable to visit her family because her husband swore an oath of divorce if she visits them, and this oath is contingent upon a condition that neither she nor her husband controls?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If the husband intended to pronounce divorce upon his wife when she entered her family's home, then the ruling for us is that the divorce takes effect the moment she enters, whether the husband intended thereby to effect the divorce or to emphasize it. This is the view of the majority of scholars. If the divorce takes place and it is not the third and final divorce, then the husband may reconcile with his wife before her waiting period (iddah) expires. Some scholars, like Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, hold the view that a conditional divorce not intended to effect divorce but rather for emphasis, has the ruling of an oath by Allah, and requires an expiation for an oath, and the divorce does not take effect.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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