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Is the phrase, "If you do not do such and such acts, then you are free," considered a divorce if said to the wife with the intention of urging her to do something for her own benefit, not with the intention of divorce?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A man's statement to his wife, "If you do not do such-and-such, then you are free (divorced)," is among the allusive expressions of divorce (kinayat al-talaq) by which divorce does not occur unless there is an intention to divorce. If his intention was not divorce, then nothing occurs, even if the wife does not perform the stipulated action. It has been narrated from the early Muslims (Salaf) that the meaning of such phrases depends on the intention of the speaker; if he intended divorce, it occurs, otherwise not. Scholars have differed in understanding this expression; some consider it an allusive expression of divorce, while others believe it is far from that meaning unless there are specific contextual indicators.

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

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