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What is the ruling on a wife cohabiting with a husband who frequently swears by divorce, and who has irrevocably divorced his wife twice, and then the wife left without his permission despite his swearing upon her by divorce?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A conditional divorce (ta'liq bi al-talaq) results in a revocable divorce if the condition is met, and the husband has the right to take back his wife as long as she is within her waiting period ('iddah). Some scholars differentiate between intending to deter or encourage (in which case expiation is due upon breaching the oath) and intending to effect a divorce (in which case the divorce occurs). The majority of scholars do not differentiate between swearing an oath by divorce and a conditional divorce, and they hold that the divorce occurs when the condition is met. However, Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah is of the view that whoever swears an oath by divorce must offer expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin) if the condition is breached, unless he intended to effect a divorce. Frequent swearing by divorce undermines a person's uprightness and religious commitment. A woman is permitted to request a divorce for this reason, and it is permissible to refer the matter to a judge to separate them if a father marries his daughter to someone who frequently swears by divorce.

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

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