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Does divorce occur with the statement, "Divorce upon me that you leave the house," if it was intended to instill fear, and the person left and then returned after two hours?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars hold that swearing by divorce results in divorce upon breaking the oath, whether the intention was divorce, a threat, or anything else, and this is the relied-upon opinion. Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, however, believes that swearing by divorce, when the intention is not to make divorce contingent but rather to threaten or emphasize, is subject to the same ruling as swearing by Allah: it necessitates an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin) and does not result in divorce. The determinant for what was sworn upon is the intention of the swearer. If you intended your brother to leave without returning or for a specific period, and he returned, then you have broken your oath. Upon breaking the oath, divorce occurs according to the majority of scholars, and an expiation for an oath is due according to Ibn Taymiyyah's view. The permissible oath is by Allah Almighty, and swearing by divorce is among the oaths of the dissolute.

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

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