Back to search

What is the religious ruling regarding a husband who swore an oath of divorce against his wife, stating that he would divorce her if he heard that their son had formalized his marriage to a specific girl, and then retracted this to make the divorce conditional upon seeing the marriage certificate after he had already heard about his son's marriage, and what is the wife's position on this?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a husband swears an oath by divorce that if he hears of his son marrying a specific woman, he will divorce his wife, and then he hears of it, divorce does not occur merely by his hearing of it. Rather, it is a threat of divorce, so he has the choice to divorce or not to divorce. However, if he says, "If I hear of this, then my wife is divorced," the majority of scholars hold that divorce occurs immediately upon hearing. Some scholars, however, maintain that it depends on the husband's intention. If he intended a threat, then he must offer expiation for an oath, and no divorce occurs. If he intended the occurrence of divorce, then a single divorce occurs. The husband must fear Allah and avoid using divorce pronouncements. Matters of divorce are referred to the Sharia court.

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

Read the full answer on Ftawy