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What are the rulings consequent upon swearing an oath using two divorce formulae, one for a future specific action, and the other concerning the intention of swearing in the past, with the swearer's dislike for that, and does the divorce take effect if there was no intention for it, and what is the ruling on the wife's ignorance of this, and is it permissible to adopt any jurisprudential opinion on the matter?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Most scholars hold the view that if a husband makes his wife's divorce conditional upon an event, she is divorced when that condition is met, regardless of whether the husband intended for the divorce to occur or not. This is the prevailing fatwa.

However, Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah holds that if the husband did not intend for divorce to occur by the conditional statement, but rather intended a threat or emphasis, then no divorce occurs. Instead, he is liable for an expiation for breaking an oath (kaffarat yamin). If he did intend divorce, he holds that a divorce pronounced three times counts as a single divorce.

Accordingly, if you swore falsely: 1. According to the prevailing fatwa: Your wife is divorced thrice, and she is irrevocably separated from you (baynunah kubra). Her knowledge of the divorce is not a condition for its occurrence. 2. According to Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah: If you intended divorce and broke your oath, your wife is divorced once. If you did not intend divorce, then no divorce occurred, and you must offer an expiation for breaking an oath (feeding or clothing ten poor persons, or fasting three days if you cannot afford that), and you must repent for swearing falsely.

There is no harm in acting upon the statement of a trusted scholar, as long as you are confident in the validity of the statement and are not merely following your whims.

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

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