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Does a husband's statement to his wife, "We are divorced," constitute a divorce, especially given that he said it after she told him that his previous message to her via mobile phone, saying "Leave," was considered the third divorce, and before the mufti's fatwa that it does not count as a divorce?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Sharīʿah has placed divorce in the hands of the husband, not the wife, based on the Almighty's saying: "And when you divorce women and they have fulfilled their term, then either retain them in honor or release them in honor." And a husband's saying to his wife, "Leave," does not effect a divorce if he did not intend to effect it, and there is no consideration for the wife's statement that she is irrevocably divorced (a third divorce). As for the husband's subsequent statement, "We are divorced," if it was merely an announcement about what the wife considered to be the occurrence of divorce, and he did not intend to initiate a new divorce, then nothing results from it, because reporting does not take the place of initiating. The spouses are advised to avoid problems and resolve them with deliberation and wisdom to avert the dire consequences of divorce.

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

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