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Does the husband's statement to his wife, "You are perpetually forbidden to me, and when you deliver your baby, I will divorce you," constitute a divorce, knowing that he had intercourse with her days after uttering this statement?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The preponderant opinion is that the prohibition of the wife refers back to the husband's intention. If he intended divorce, then his statement: "When you deliver your baby, I will divorce you" is a promise of divorce, and divorce does not occur by it. If this was his intention and it was not the final divorce, then intercourse is considered a valid 'raj'ah' (revocation of divorce). If he intended 'ẓihār' (a pre-Islamic form of divorce by likening the wife to a forbidden relative), then jurists have differed regarding one who has intercourse after 'ẓihār' and before expiation. If he intended an oath, or intended nothing, then an oath expiation ('kaffārat yamīn') becomes obligatory upon him, and his intercourse before expiation has no effect.

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

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