What is the jurisprudential ruling concerning a man who uttered a divorce under duress, linking it to his wife's desire, which later became clear that she does not wish for a divorce?
If a man explicitly pronounces his wife's divorce while being aware and of his own free will, his divorce takes effect, even if it was due to the insistence of the wife's family. This is not considered valid coercion. Valid coercion is a threat of death or severe harm from someone capable of carrying it out, with a strong presumption that the threat will be fulfilled.
However, if a man divorces believing his wife desires a divorce, and it later becomes clear that she did not want it, or if he intended to condition the divorce on her desire for it, some scholars have held that his divorce does not take effect between him and Allah, due to the absence of the cause or the non-occurrence of the condition. Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned that Ahmad's view is that if a divorce is conditional upon a reason that then ceases to exist, the divorce does not occur. He also stated that Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah held that there is no difference whether the reason is verbally mentioned or not; if the reason ceases to exist, the divorce does not occur.
It is advisable to present the matter to a Sharia court or trusted scholars.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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