Does a divorce occur if a man swears by divorce to one of his wives that she will not leave the house, then divorces her, thinking she was the one who left, only to discover later that it was the other wife who left?
A man who went to the marriage registrar regarding divorcing his wife has two possibilities:
1. He intended to document a previous divorce due to a breach in a conditional divorce. In this case, the wife is not divorced because there was no intention to initiate the divorce and the condition was not met. 2. He intended to divorce her at the registrar, believing she had left the house. Here, scholars differed: Some of them (including Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim) are of the view that she is not divorced if it becomes clear that the reason for which he divorced her (such as her leaving) was not present. It is as if he divorced her for a non-existent cause. The majority of scholars are of the view that she is considered divorced whether the cause existed or not, because the statement "you are divorced" with a causal form (like "if you enter") effectuates divorce immediately.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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