Does divorce occur if a man says to his wife: "If you do such and such, then you are divorced," and then the wife does that forgetfully, knowing that he did not intend divorce when warning her and wishes to retract his statement?
Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 2026
You cannot retract what you said to your wife, nor can you cancel it. If the wife does what the divorce was conditioned upon, then it takes effect as a divorce according to the doctrine of the majority of scholars. Nothing is binding upon you (neither divorce nor an expiation for an oath) as long as your wife did the action forgetfully, because she did not intend to violate it.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/37053
Where this answer came from
- Source platform
- Ftawy
- Original fatwa ID
- 37053
- Added here
- . This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
- Read the full ruling
- Read the full answer on Ftawy