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Does the divorce take effect with the words "You have three days to give me the ATM card, otherwise you will be divorced" if the intention was to prevent mixing and not to divorce, knowing that the card is still in the wife's possession and she is with her family and is ritually pure?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Most scholars believe that a conditional divorce takes effect when the condition is met, whether the intention was divorce or threat. This is the fatwa we adopt. However, Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah holds that if the intention was not divorce but rather a threat, then divorce does not occur, and an expiation for an oath becomes binding.

Based on this, the fatwa we adopt is that your wife is divorced if she does not give you the card after three days from the oath. You may take her back before the iddah expires, provided this divorce does not complete the three divorces. However, according to Sheikh al-Islam, no divorce occurs, and an expiation for an oath becomes binding on you. If she gives you the card before the three days, then neither divorce nor expiation is required of you.

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

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