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Does a husband's insinuation of divorce, if his wife does not return the money to her parents, with a specified time for the return, constitute a divorce oath? And does a divorce occur if she returns the money on the same day but not at the specified time? And does his warning to her not to take money from anyone in the future fall under the divorce oath? And does a divorce occur if she takes money after this warning? And is it permissible to retract this oath in the future?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The phrases uttered by the husband to his wife, which included "he will be angry with her for the rest of his life, he will ruin things for her, it will be a big problem, and the matter will escalate," are in the nature of a threat and a warning, and not a suspension of divorce. Therefore, no divorce results from them. Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned that a promise of divorce does not take effect and is not obligatory to fulfill. Furthermore, both spouses must consider each other's feelings. The wife should not do anything that angers her husband, and the husband should not be hard on her or use divorce as a means of correction. Rather, he should treat her with gentleness and wisdom, recalling the Prophet's (peace be upon him) advice regarding women.

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

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