Does the divorce I uttered during a dispute with my wife take effect, considering that one utterance was in a low voice and in a state of imagination, and another where I did not know whether my lips moved or not, especially since I suffer from lack of concentration and absent-mindedness and sometimes talk to myself in a loud voice?
An explicit divorce takes effect without intention if the utterance is intended and its meaning is known. Therefore, the divorce of a sleeper, an inattentive person, or someone who does not know the meaning of the utterance does not take effect. What was mentioned about imagining divorce in a low voice does not effect a divorce, because it is either a pardoned self-talk (hadith al-nafs) or an imagination of what will happen in the future without the intention of immediate effect, especially with the lack of focus and inattentiveness. Divorcing a menstruating woman is unanimously forbidden, and one must repent from it and act according to what the scholars have ruled regarding its occurrence.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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