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Will a woman be divorced from her husband who swore to divorce her in order to give her back her money, by saying: "I swear by divorce that you will take your money, meaning you will be divorced if I don't give you your money," without specifying a time limit for that, and is it permissible to have intercourse with her before returning the money?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of jurists hold that swearing an oath by divorce results in divorce upon breaking the oath, contrary to Ibn Taymiyyah, who believes its ruling is like an oath by Allah, requiring an expiation for an oath (kaffarat yamin). Accordingly, divorce occurs if you break your oath, and the occurrence of breaking the oath depends on your intention at the time of swearing the oath. So, if you intended a specific time for returning the money, divorce occurs upon exceeding that time. If you did not intend a specific time, then breaking the oath does not occur until the last possible time has passed (the death of one of you). The Malikis are of the view that the firm intention not to do what was sworn upon immediately constitutes breaking the oath. As for your cohabiting with your wife before returning the money, it is permissible.

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

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