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What is the ruling regarding a wife going to her father's house after her husband swore by saying, "By divorce, if you go to your father's house, you are forbidden to me"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a husband says to his wife, "You are unlawful to me" (تحرمين علي), then: If he intended divorce, divorce occurs, and he may take her back during her 'iddah, provided it is not the third divorce. If he intended ẓihār (a pre-Islamic form of divorce by which a husband declares his wife to be like his mother's back), then ẓihār occurs, and he is not permitted to have intercourse with her before performing the expiation for ẓihār mentioned in Surat Al-Mujadalah. If he intended neither divorce nor ẓihār, then he must offer the expiation for a broken oath.

It is important to note that the permissible oath is by Allah Almighty. Swearing by divorce and unlawfulness (al-haram) are oaths of the wicked, and grave consequences may result from them, along with the obligation for the wife to obey her husband in what is good and lawful.

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

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