Does a divorce oath take effect by saying, "Upon me be divorce, you will not leave here except to our country," if the intention was for her not to go out for recreation, and then the wife left the apartment to the ground floor of the building and returned before exiting the gate, and did not go out again except to the country?
The majority of scholars hold that swearing an oath by divorce results in divorce if the oath is broken, and this is the we follow. Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, however, believes that swearing an oath by divorce, when the intent is not to make the divorce conditional but rather to threaten or emphasize, is akin to swearing by Allah. Therefore, if the one who swore the oath breaks it, he must offer expiation for an oath, and no divorce occurs.
Accordingly, the fatwa we follow is that if you break your oath, your divorce occurs. Your breaking of the oath depends on your intention behind what you uttered. If you intended to prevent her from going out for leisure, and not merely from leaving the apartment, then you have not broken your oath by her going out in the manner described, for intention particularizes the general and restricts the absolute.
Swearing an oath by divorce is not legislated and may lead to undesirable consequences. The legislated oath is swearing by Allah the Almighty.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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