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Does divorce take effect after swearing an oath of divorce due to not repaying a debt, then wishing to repay it?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The fatwa with us is that if someone swears by divorcing his wife and then breaks his oath, she is divorced, even if the one swearing did not intend divorce but rather intended emphasis and threat. However, according to some scholars, such as Ibn Taymiyyah, his wife is not divorced, and he must pay an expiation for breaking an oath. Therefore, if you pay off your debt, your wife will be divorced, and you can take her back during her waiting period (iddah) unless this divorce completes the three divorces. As for the opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah, if the oath was intended as a threat and you did not intend to effect a divorce, then no divorce occurs upon paying the debt, but you must pay an expiation for breaking an oath. The debt must be paid if it is due, and it is not permissible to procrastinate in paying it when one is able. The permissible oath is to swear by Allah Almighty, and swearing by divorce is among the oaths of the wicked and has grave consequences.

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

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