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Is my not sleeping in my house considered an irrevocable divorce, or an oath requiring expiation, after my husband said, "By the Haram, you will go and sleep in my house tomorrow"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a person swears an oath by what is unlawful regarding something, the ruling depends on their intention:

- If they intended divorce, divorce occurs upon breaking the oath.

- If they intended zihar (a pre-Islamic form of divorce by likening one's wife to an unmarriageable relative), kaffarat az-zihar (expiation for zihar) becomes obligatory upon breaking the oath.

- If they intended an oath, kaffarat yamin (expiation for an oath) becomes obligatory upon breaking the oath.

And if they did not intend anything, then kaffarat yamin becomes obligatory.

There is another view that holds kaffarat yamin to be absolutely obligatory upon breaking the oath, even if they intended divorce.

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

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