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What is the ruling on the iddah for several divorce incidents that a husband made conditional upon specific actions, and in some of them, he explicitly uttered the word of divorce, and what is the ruling on his statement on one occasion: "By Allah, if she doesn't come, then she is... (and he explicitly uttered the word)?"

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars hold the view that tying a divorce to a condition causes the divorce to occur once the condition is met, whether the intention was to cause divorce or merely to threaten. This is the fatwa we follow. However, Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah believes that if the intention was not to cause divorce but rather to threaten, then divorce does not occur, and an expiation for breaking an oath becomes due.

- "If you do not visit my family, then you are divorced": If your wife does not visit your family, then she is divorced. - "If you do not take the ticket I booked for you, then you are unlawful to me": If your wife does not take the ticket, the ruling differs depending on your intention. If you intended divorce, it occurs. If you intended zihar (a pronouncement making one's wife unlawful as one's mother), it occurs. If you intended an absolute oath or did not intend anything specific, then it is an expiable oath. - Written divorce conditioned on a specific action: If you intended thereby to cause divorce, it occurs. However, if you did not intend to cause divorce, but rather intended to threaten and prevent, and merely wrote it without uttering it, then it does not occur. - Divorce as a thought (hadith al-nafs): "By Allah, if she does not come, she is divorced." If you merely thought this to yourself without uttering it, no divorce occurs, because divorce does not occur by mere intention or thought. However, if you uttered it and your wife did not come, then she is divorced.

It is recommended to present the matter verbally to trustworthy scholars, as there are specific details involved.

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

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