What is the ruling on someone who, out of anger and without intending divorce, uttered the phrase "I want to take it to divorce," and also uttered the phrase "By divorce, I will slap you with all my might," again out of anger and without intending divorce, and then lightly struck his wife? Is he required to offer expiation for an oath in both cases?

If the phrase "I want to divorce her" was uttered by the inquirer in a state of anger, it is neither an explicit nor an implicit statement of divorce, and therefore, no divorce occurs. As for his oath by divorce to strongly hit his wife's face, if he uttered it unintentionally, due to a slip of the tongue or loss of awareness due to extreme anger, then neither divorce nor expiation results from it. However, if he was aware and intended what he was saying, then the fatwa adopted by us is that divorce occurs upon breaking the oath, and he does not fulfill it by a light beating, but rather by a beating that causes her pain. There is an opinion held by some scholars, such as Ibn Taymiyyah, that divorce does not occur if one did not intend divorce with this oath, but expiation for an oath becomes binding. It must be noted that striking the face is forbidden in Islamic law.