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Does a divorce occur if a husband threatens his wife with a text message: "If you do not return within two weeks, then you are divorced"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If the husband did not intend to effect a divorce, but rather to threaten, then the preponderant opinion is that divorce does not occur, as intention is stipulated by many scholars. However, if he intended to make the divorce conditional on the wife not returning within two weeks, then the divorce occurred upon the expiry of the period without her return. If it was the first or second divorce, the husband may take her back before the 'iddah (waiting period) expires. If the 'iddah expires without him taking her back, the wife becomes irrevocably divorced, and a new contract is required to remarry her. If it was the third divorce, then she is irrevocably divorced (baynunah kubra) and is not lawful for him until she marries another husband. Divorce pronouncements should not be used for threatening.

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

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