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Is a husband considered to have broken his oath if he swore to divorce three times over an action and then did not perform it, knowing that he repeats such oaths?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a husband utters an oath of divorce while being fully aware of what he is saying, then according to the majority of scholars, divorce occurs upon breaking the oath. If the divorce is uttered with the phrase "by three," then it counts as three divorces. Some scholars, like Ibn Taymiyyah, are of the view that swearing an oath by divorce, when the intention is not to make the divorce conditional, is treated like an oath by Allah, and thus expiation (kaffarah) is required upon breaking it, and divorce does not occur. They also hold that uttering "by three" counts as one divorce. If the husband breaks his oath, his wife is divorced from him by three divorces and becomes irrevocably separated (baynunah kubra). She does not become lawful for him again until she marries another man, consummates the marriage with him, and then he divorces her or dies, and her waiting period (iddah) expires. However, if the husband is unable to fulfill his promise and is not negligent, he does not break his oath. It is advisable to present the matter to trustworthy scholars, noting that the permissible oath is one sworn by Allah Almighty.

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

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