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What is the ruling on divorce occurring in the three aforementioned cases, given that the husband swore by divorce that he would never swear by it?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars hold that if a man swears an oath of divorce and then breaks it, his wife is divorced, whether he intended divorce or merely a threat. However, some scholars, like Ibn Taymiyyah, are of the view that it is like swearing by Allah, and thus requires an expiation for a broken oath (kaffarat yamin) and does not result in divorce. The relied-upon fatwa is the opinion of the majority.

Therefore, in the first incident, where the husband swore an oath of divorce after having sworn not to swear by it, a divorce occurs. The second incident, where he explicitly uttered the word of divorce, undoubtedly results in divorce. As for the third incident, if he is truthful, nothing is binding upon him.

It is advisable to present the matter to trustworthy scholars in person, with the reminder that the lawful oath is by Allah Almighty, and swearing by divorce is among the oaths of the dissolute.

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

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