Does a divorce take effect if a man conditions his wife's divorce on her doing something, and she does it out of forgetfulness, and the husband intended to threaten rather than divorce? And does the ruling differ between his saying "you will be divorced" and "I will divorce you"?
Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 2026
If a husband says to his wife, "If you do such and such, you will be divorced," or "I will divorce you," and his intention is merely to promise a divorce, then nothing occurs if he does not fulfill the promise. However, if his intention is to make the divorce conditional, then, according to the majority of scholars, the divorce takes effect when the condition is met, even if his intention was to threaten. If the wife does the action upon which the divorce was conditioned out of forgetfulness, then the husband is not obligated to divorce her.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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Where this answer came from
- Source platform
- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 95002
- Added here
- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy