What is the ruling of Islamic law concerning a wife who repeatedly commits an act that I forbade her from and made her divorce conditional upon, knowing that I do not wish to divorce her?
The majority of scholars hold that a conditional divorce takes effect if the condition upon which it is suspended is fulfilled. So, if the wife speaks to the person she was forbidden to speak to, the divorce takes effect according to the majority. However, Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah is of the opinion that the speaker is only liable for an expiation for a broken oath (kaffarat yamin) if he did not intend divorce. If the divorce takes effect and it is the first or second, it is a revocable divorce (talaq raj'i) according to the Maliki, Hanafi, and Shafi'i schools. As for the Hanbalis, they consider it to be a triple divorce. Based on the opinion that the divorce is less than three, the divorce does not repeat with the wife's repeated contact with the aforementioned person, and the oath is dissolved by its breach. The majority of scholars do not permit retracting a conditional divorce, while Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah permitted retracting it without any obligation.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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