Does a divorce occur for a man who swore to his wife, "If you take the things and leave the house, you will be divorced," so she took her things and left, and can she return?

Scholars have differed regarding the ruling on swearing by divorce and making it conditional. The majority of them hold that divorce occurs absolutely upon breaching such an oath, and this is the fatwa (definition) we adopt. However, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and those who agreed with him are of the opinion that divorce does not occur in such a case; rather, the one who swore the oath must pay an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin (definition)) if he breaches it, provided that he did not intend to bring about divorce but rather intended to emphasize, prevent, or encourage something.

Based on this, the fatwa we adopt is that divorce has occurred with the wife's departure. If this was the third divorce, then the wife has become irrevocably divorced (baynunah kubra), and her husband has no way to remarry her except after she marries another man willingly, and then he divorces her or dies, and her waiting period ends. This is unless the husband intended, by preventing her from leaving, only to prevent her from leaving at that moment or on that same day. In this case, he does not breach his oath by her leaving after the time he intended in his oath, for intention in an oath specifies the general and restricts the absolute. Swearing by divorce is not legislated; what is legislated is swearing by Allah the Almighty.