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Is the wife considered divorced and forbidden to her husband after he told her brother, "Your sister is divorced," then sent her a text message saying, "By divorce, if you do not answer my phone, I will divorce you tomorrow at your house," then followed it with another message saying, "You are divorced"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a man says to his wife's brother: "Your sister is divorced," then a clear divorce takes effect, requiring no intention. If he has not consummated the marriage or been in seclusion with her, then she is irrevocably divorced with a minor separation, and she is not lawful for him except with a new marriage contract.

As for writing: "I swear by divorce that if you do not answer my phone, I will divorce you tomorrow at your house," this is an implicit statement of divorce. Divorce does not occur through it unless there is an intention. If he did not intend divorce, then nothing is incumbent upon him. If he did intend it, and his wife did not answer his phone, and he did not divorce her at the specified time, then the divorce has occurred.

Regarding the message containing the phrase: "You are divorced," this is also an implicit statement. If he intended it to confirm the suspended divorce, then no new divorce occurs. If he intended to initiate a new divorce, then it is effective. If he did not intend divorce by it, then nothing is incumbent upon him. If only one or two divorces have become binding, he may take his wife back before her 'iddah (waiting period) is complete. It is recommended to consult a Sharia court or trustworthy scholars for a detailed explanation of the matter.

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

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