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What is the ruling on swearing by triple divorce, saying, "I swear by triple divorce that I will not call her again and will not speak to her," and does it take effect if the husband is compelled to meet or speak with her?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars hold that swearing by divorce results in divorce upon breaking the oath, and that uttering the triple divorce pronouncement counts as three divorces. In contrast, Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah is of the opinion that swearing by divorce, when not intended as a conditional divorce but rather as a threat or emphasis, is akin to swearing by Allah, necessitating an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin) and not resulting in divorce. Furthermore, according to him, if one intends divorce by uttering the triple pronouncement, it counts as a single divorce. The fatwa issued is that divorce counts as three pronouncements, resulting in an irrevocable divorce (baynunah kubra). Breaking the oath depends on the husband's intention: if he intended absolute abstinence from contact and speech, he breaks the oath with any communication; if he intended abstinence from a specific type of contact, he does not break the oath with other types.

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

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