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Does divorce occur by saying "So-and-so is divorced" in one's imagination and without intention?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a man imagines a conversation between himself and his wife, and imagines himself saying, "So-and-so is divorced," without actually uttering it, then no divorce occurs. However, if he explicitly utters the words of divorce, the default is that it takes effect, even if he did not intend it. But if he intended something other than effecting a divorce by his utterance, such as intending that if she does such-and-such, he would say to her, "So-and-so is divorced," or if he was imitating a conversation, then the preponderant opinion is that no divorce occurs between him and Allah, based on the statement of Ibn Qudamah: "And if, by the allusive word during anger or a request for divorce, he intended something other than divorce, no divorce occurs; because if he had intended it with an explicit word, it would not have occurred, so by an allusive word it is even more so."

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

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