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Is the phrase, "You are not my wife, nor am I your husband," spoken as a threat without the intention of divorce, considered an explicit divorce, an implicit divorce, or neither, given that there was a legal seclusion (khalwa shar'iyya) between the spouses without consummation?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A man's statement to his wife: "You are not my wife, and I am not your husband," is a kinayah (ambiguous divorce pronouncement) that can imply divorce or something else. Therefore, divorce does not occur by it unless there is an intention [to divorce]. If he did not intend divorce by it, then divorce does not occur. Similarly, if he doubts his intention, the fundamental principle is the continuation of the marriage.

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

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