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Does a divorce that occurred in a state of extreme anger, or without intention or awareness of it, take effect? And does a divorce take effect if it was repeated four times, knowing that one of these times was without an argument?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a man utters an explicit divorce (talaq) to his wife, and he intends the utterance itself, then the divorce takes effect, and intention is not a prerequisite, unless he was overcome by his mind due to extreme anger such that he did not comprehend what he was saying. In this case, the divorce does not take effect, based on the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: "There is no divorce and no manumission in a state of closure (i.e., coercion or loss of consciousness)."

If the triple divorce occurs, then the wife becomes irrevocably separated from him and forbidden to him, and retaining her after that is unlawful. However, if anger caused him to lose his awareness and perception, then what he uttered at that time is not counted; rather, what he uttered while conscious is counted. It is important to note that mere anger does not prevent the divorce from taking effect unless it reaches the degree of losing awareness and perception. It is advisable to present the matter to the Sharia courts or to consult scholars directly.

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

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