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Does divorce take effect with the statement, "If you do not leave my mother's house tomorrow morning and return to your family, then all you have with me is the deferred dower," given that the wife left the mother's house for her niece's house instead of her family's?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A man's statement to his wife, "You have nothing from me but the delayed (divorce)," is a metaphorical expression (kinayah) of divorce and does not effect a divorce unless intended. If he did not intend divorce, then no divorce occurs due to breaking an oath. If he did intend divorce and made it contingent upon his wife leaving his mother's house and going to her family's house together, and she did not go to her family's house, then divorce has occurred. However, if he intended to make the divorce contingent merely on her leaving his mother's house without going to her family's house, then divorce has not occurred. If divorce has occurred and it is less than three divorces, the husband can reconcile with his wife before the expiration of her waiting period ('iddah). It is recommended to present the matter to trustworthy scholars.

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

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