Is the wife divorced if her husband marries another woman after he said to her on their wedding day: "By divorce, I will not marry anyone other than you"?

The fatwa we adopt is that if a man swears by divorce that he will marry another woman, his wife will be divorced if he does marry, whether he intended to effect a divorce or merely to emphasize his words. This is the opinion of most scholars. If the divorce is revocable (meaning he has not completed three divorces), he may take his wife back before her 'iddah (waiting period) expires.

Some scholars, such as Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, are of the view that if swearing by divorce is not intended to effect divorce but merely for emphasis, then its ruling is the same as swearing by Allah. If he breaks his oath, he must pay an expiation for breaking an oath, and no divorce occurs.

The permissible oath is swearing by Allah the Almighty. Swearing by divorce is among the oaths of the dissolute, and one should be wary of it. It is advised to communicate with the wife, point out her shortcomings, urge her to rectify them, and to deliberate and reflect carefully on the matter of a second marriage, considering its consequences and weighing the benefits against the harms.