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Do words uttered by a person without intention or volition constitute a vow, and do they entail any consequences?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The questioner is advised to fear Allah and abandon obsessive thoughts by disregarding delusions. Her inner speech and what she utters do not necessitate a divorce or anything else, because a person afflicted with waswasa (obsessive doubts) is overwhelmed in their will, and their utterance is not considered valid. The divorce of a person with waswasa does not take effect even if they utter it with their tongue, if it was not intentional, because it is without intent or will. Furthermore, the divorce of someone under duress does not take effect, based on the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "There is no divorce in ighlaq (compulsion/closure)."

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

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