Does divorce take effect merely by the intention of it when reciting the verses of divorce in Surat Al-Baqarah, and are these verses considered explicit pronouncements of divorce or allusions to it?
What you are experiencing is a form of waswasa (whispers/obsessive thoughts). The most effective cure for it is to completely disregard and not think about it. Divorce does not occur except through an explicit utterance indicating it, or an equivocal expression accompanied by the intention to effect it. Divorce does not occur merely by bringing to mind the intention of divorce when reading verses related to it, regardless of whether you desired divorce or not, nor does it occur because you deliberately brought the intention to mind or were able to repel the waswasa but did not do so. Explicit divorce, according to the majority of scholars, is the word "divorce" and its derivatives. Equivocal expression is any word that implies separation and conveys the meaning of divorce.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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