Back to search

In the event that the wife is authorized to divorce, does this authorization become void merely by doubting the occurrence of intercourse thereafter, or does the authorization remain valid, along with mentioning the opinions of jurists on this issue?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The wife's authorization to divorce, or her delegation in it, becomes void by sexual intercourse, or by the wife's rejection of the authorization, or by the husband retracting his statement. If there is doubt about the occurrence of sexual intercourse, it is considered as if it did not occur, and the delegation remains if it was not restricted to the session. The wording of the delegation can be absolute, restricted to a specific time, or encompass all times. If it is absolute, the majority view that the right to divorce is restricted to the session, except that the Hanbalis hold that the phrase "your affair is in your hand" is not restricted to the session, whereas "choose yourself" is restricted to the session. If the wording encompasses all times, she has the right to divorce whenever she wishes, and if it is restricted to a time, the right continues until the end of the specified time. "Your affair is in your hand" gives the wife the right to divorce herself three times, and "choose yourself" gives her the right to a single divorce and is restricted to the session.

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

Read the full answer on Ftawy