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Does divorce take place if a man says to his wife: "If you go out now, you are divorced," and she does not go out, but then two hours later he takes her to the hospital?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a husband prevents his wife from going out and she intends to comply, but then goes out afterward, divorce does not occur unless the husband's intention was to prevent her for a long period, for in oaths, the intention is what matters. If the husband breaks his oath, the fatwa we follow is that divorce occurs, while some scholars, like Ibn Taymiyyah, hold that divorce does not occur if the husband did not intend to effect it, and he is then obliged to offer expiation for breaking an oath.

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

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