Does a divorce occur when the husband says: "By divorce, you will not smoke shisha unless I place it in your mouth with my own hands," and then his wife smokes shisha while she is menstruating? And does the ruling differ if the husband later hands her the shisha with his own hands?
There is no difference between a man telling his wife: "Divorce be upon me if you do such-and-such," and his saying: "If you do such-and-such, then you are divorced."
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah explained these oaths (like divorce and manumission), which are similar to swearing by God, as oaths by which the swearer intends to glorify the Creator, not His creations.
As for the occurrence of conditional divorce, scholars hold three views:
1. That what he conditioned and swore by becomes binding if he breaks his oath (the view of the majority). 2. That nothing becomes binding upon him. 3. That an expiation for breaking an oath becomes binding upon him.
The view of the majority is that conditional divorce occurs if the wife breaks the condition, whether the husband intended to make the divorce conditional or intended it as an oath.
If the divorce occurs and this is the first or second divorce, the husband may take his wife back during her iddah (waiting period). If the iddah ends, then it requires a new mahr (dowry) and a new contract. The wife must inform her husband if she performs the action upon which the divorce was conditioned.
Finally, divorce pronounced during menstruation occurs, despite being forbidden.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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