Is a divorce suspended by the husband on his wife uttering a specific phrase valid, given her denial of it and the presence of witnesses who affirm its occurrence, and would the ruling differ if he said to her: "If you say that, then you are divorced"?
If a husband swears to divorce his wife if she utters a specific phrase, and this is confirmed, then it is a promise of divorce and he is not obligated to carry it out. Divorce does not occur with the present tense or with what is added to the future unless it is conditioned by a specific stipulation. If he does not fulfill his promise, he must offer an expiation for breaking an oath (kaffarat ). However, if he says, "If you say such and such, then you are divorced," and the wife utters the phrase, divorce occurs according to the majority of scholars. An expiation for breaking an oath is required, according to Ibn Taymiyyah, if the husband did not intend divorce. If divorce occurs, the husband can take his wife back before the end of her waiting period () if this is not the third divorce. The wife's iddah ends with her purification from the third menstrual cycle, or after three months if she does not menstruate, or by giving birth if she is pregnant. If he divorces her three times, she becomes unlawful for him until she marries another husband and then he divorces her.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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