What is the ruling on one who swore by divorce, saying: "By divorce from your sister, you will pay me that money," with the intention of not taking the money? Does the divorce occur if the wife's brother does not pay the money? Is it permissible to use a stratagem to find a way out of this oath? Is the husband sinful if he has intercourse with his wife before knowing the ruling on his oath?

The fatwa adopted by us is that if a husband breaks his oath, his divorce takes effect. He does not break his oath until the very last moment of possibility, which is the death of one of them. He cannot fulfill his oath through stratagem, for Ibn al-Qayyim said: "Whoever resorts to stratagem is a breaker of his oath." There is no sin upon the husband for engaging in sexual intercourse with his wife before fulfilling his oath. If the divorce takes effect, he may take back his wife during her 'iddah (waiting period). Some scholars, like Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, are of the view that divorce does not take effect if the husband did not intend for it to occur, and he is obligated to pay the expiation for breaking an oath.