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Does a divorce occur if a man says to his wife: "You are divorced if you leave the house without permission," and then he regrets it and allows her to leave, and he changes the house in which he swore, while not remembering his intention at the time of the oath?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

What you said to your wife is considered a contingent divorce, contingent upon her leaving the house without your permission. The majority of scholars believe that the wife is divorced upon the occurrence of the contingency. However, Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah holds that if the contingency is intended as a threat or a prohibition, it is an oath for which expiation (kaffarah yamin) is due if the sworn-upon event occurs. Therefore, according to the view of the majority, your wife is divorced if she leaves your house without your permission. Changing the house does not matter unless there was an intention for a specific house. Your allowing her to leave without informing her does not affect the breach of the oath.

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

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