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What is the ruling on saying "I must divorce her" or "I must divorce that woman" without the intention of divorce, and does divorce occur thereby?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Your statement to your wife, "Go to your family," is an

allusion to divorce. If you did not intend divorce by it, then there is nothing

upon you. And your statement, "I divorced her for the first and second time,"

if you intended by it a false report, or you believed that it had occurred

while it had not, then there is nothing upon you except repentance from lying.

However, if you intended to initiate divorce with these two phrases, then two

divorces are binding upon you. If you intended to initiate divorce with one

(of the phrases), then one divorce is binding upon you. You may take your wife

back as long as her waiting period has not ended and the divorces have not

amounted to three. If the total number of divorces reaches three, then she is

unlawful for you and will not become lawful until she marries another man, he

consummates the marriage with her, and then he divorces her.

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

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