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What is the legitimate Islamic recourse for a woman whose marriage contract has been concluded but whose husband has not yet consummated the marriage with her, if she requests a divorce and the husband refuses to divorce her, knowing that she does not wish to complete the marriage with him?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Lawsuits and disputes between spouses require مراجعه to the Sharia court for resolution, because the judge's ruling is binding. The husband's statement "I do not want you" is not an explicit divorce (talaq sareeh); rather, it is an ambiguous statement (kinayah), the ruling on which depends on his intention. If the husband has consulted trustworthy scholars and they have issued a fatwa that divorce has occurred, then he must act upon this fatwa, and it is forbidden for him to claim the continuation of the marital relationship. However, if he falsely claims that divorce has occurred, then lying is forbidden, but divorce does not occur merely by this claim.

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

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