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What is the ruling on someone who pronounced an oath of divorce upon his wife three times at separate intervals, one of which was contingent upon the wife's travel to Palestine on 5/7/2007, an impossible matter due to the closure of the borders?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars hold that a conditional divorce oath takes effect upon the fulfillment of the condition and the occurrence of the breach. If you have breached your oaths, then divorce becomes binding upon you. If the breach has not occurred, then the divorce does not take effect. If your intention for the travel oath was that travel should be possible for you, then divorce does not take effect if travel is prevented due to border closures, because the prevention is not from you, but rather due to the closure of borders. Some scholars, including Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, are of the view that a divorce oath does not necessitate divorce upon breach, but rather requires expiation for an oath. It is advisable to refer the matter to the Sharia courts, as a judge's ruling resolves disagreements.

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

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