Will my wife be divorced if I watch television again after I said to myself, "My wife will remain divorced if I watch it again," intending to scare myself and stop watching it, and then I actually watched it? And do I owe an expiation?
The majority of scholars—including the four madhahib (schools of thought)—hold that a contingent divorce takes effect upon the occurrence of the condition it is tied to. If you contingent your wife's divorce upon watching television, and then you watched it, the divorce, according to the majority, takes effect, even if your intention was to deter yourself and not to initiate a divorce. You may take your wife back before her ' (waiting period) is complete, provided this divorce does not complete three divorces. However, according to the of Ibn Taymiyyah, you are obligated to pay an expiation for a broken oath (kaffarat ) if your intention was to scare yourself and not to initiate a divorce. If you did not utter the contingent divorce but merely imagined it, then nothing is binding upon you.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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