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Is a divorce oath incurred, and is expiation for it obligatory if a man swears by divorce concerning two people, one of whom went with him and the other refused to go?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Scholars differ concerning the ruling on swearing by divorce if the intention is to threaten, prevent, urge, or emphasize. The majority of scholars hold that divorce occurs when the condition sworn upon comes to pass. However, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah held that the ruling on this oath is similar to swearing by Allah, meaning that the one who swears must offer an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin) and divorce does not occur. Accordingly, if the man intended for the departure to happen on the same day, then divorce occurs for his wife due to your wife's refusal to go. But if he intended for your visit without being restricted to the same day, then divorce does not occur unless the specified period expires and you both have not gone. The man should be advised to avoid swearing by divorce.

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

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