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What is the ruling regarding a person afflicted with obsessive-compulsive disorder (waswas) who swore to divorce his wife if he broke his intention (niyyah) during wudu' or ghusl, then he broke his oath, and does this fall under the ruling of a "nadhir al-lajaj" (oath of obstinacy)?

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A person afflicted with obsessive thoughts (waswasa) who pronounces divorce while overwhelmed in his mind, his divorce does not take effect, whether it is an immediate (munjaz) or a contingent (mu'allaq) divorce. If he is acting of his own free will, fully aware of what he is saying, and he swore to divorce his wife if he does something, this is a promise to divorce, and divorce is not necessitated by it if he breaks his oath. However, if he made his wife's divorce contingent on doing something to prevent himself from doing it, he may follow the opinion of those who do not consider divorce to take effect by such an oath. And the person afflicted with waswasa must ignore obsessive thoughts about intention in ablution and other matters and not pay attention to them.

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

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