Back to search

Does divorce occur in the aforementioned cases, taking into consideration the husband's intention not to return to his wife's family's house or not to take her back after the first oath, and the possibility that the wording of the second oath differs from what was intended?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars hold that swearing an oath of divorce effects a divorce if the condition sworn upon occurs. This is the prevailing fatwa, contrary to Ibn Taymiyyah, who holds that it does not effect a divorce if the intention was not to make the divorce conditional, but rather to threaten or emphasize, in which case an expiation for breaking an oath (kaffarat yamin) is due.

The determination of what was sworn upon refers to the intention of the one who swore the oath. If there was no specific intention, then it refers to the reason for the oath (or the context according to the Maliki school).

Based on this, it appears that the reason that led you to swear the oath was anger at your wife's father when he ordered you to leave. Therefore, the oath is interpreted as a vow to avoid going to your wife's family home, and not a vow to never take her back absolutely. As long as you did not go to bring her, no divorce has occurred.

As for the other oath, as long as you intended her return before the end of the week, and she did return before that, no divorce has occurred.

It is advisable to avoid swearing by divorce and to resolve disputes with wisdom and to refrain from anger.

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

Read the full answer on Ftawy