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Does a divorce take place if the husband takes more money than he currently does, after he swore that if he takes an increase, whether directly or indirectly, or even as gifts, or takes anything that his wife buys, then she will be divorced? And can he expiate his oath?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars hold the view that swearing an oath by divorce results in the occurrence of divorce upon breaking the oath, and this is the fatwa we adhere to. However, Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah is of the opinion that the ruling on swearing an oath by divorce, when the intention is not to suspend the divorce but rather to threaten, is the same as swearing by Allah, thus requiring an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin) and not leading to divorce. The fatwa we adhere to is that if your husband breaks his oath, his divorce occurs. If it does not complete three divorces, he may take you back during the waiting period ('iddah). As for the opinion of Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, if your husband did not intend for the divorce to occur, then it does not occur, but he is obligated to pay an expiation for an oath. The prescribed oath is to swear by Allah the Almighty.

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

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