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Is it considered a divorce if the husband says to his wife, "Consider yourself divorced" and "You have been divorced for a long time," if his intention was to threaten?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and companions. To proceed:

There are two issues regarding divorce:

First: The husband's statement, "You have been divorced fundamentally for a long time." This is a declaration and not an initiation. If he is lying, no divorce occurs unless the matter is brought before a judge. If it is a declaration of a previous divorce that was less than three, then a رجعة (reconciliation) is valid during the waiting period (iddah). If it completes three divorces, then she becomes unlawful for him until she marries another husband.

Second: His statement, "Consider yourself divorced." This is an implicit expression of divorce (kinayah) and does not effect a divorce unless accompanied by intention. If his intention was merely to threaten, then nothing is incumbent upon him.

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

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