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What are the implications for a husband who pronounced a clear oath of divorce upon his wife, if he wishes to take her back during her waiting period ('iddah) or after its expiration?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a man utters a clear statement of divorce, not conditioned on anything, his divorce takes effect. If it does not complete the three divorces, it is a revocable divorce, and the husband has the right to take his wife back as long as she is within her waiting period (iddah). If the iddah expires before he takes her back, he does not have the right to take her back except with her consent and a new contract. If this divorce completes the three divorces, the woman becomes irrevocably divorced (major divorce), and she is not lawful for him again until she marries another man willingly, and then he divorces her or dies, and her iddah expires.

However, if the intention was "an oath of divorce," meaning the husband swore by divorce or conditioned it on a matter with the intention of emphasis, prevention, or encouragement, and then he broke his oath, then there is a scholarly disagreement regarding the occurrence of divorce. The majority opinion is that it takes effect.

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

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