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If a man swears an oath of divorce that he will not play PlayStation, and then he returns to playing it, does the divorce apply to one of his two wives or to both of them?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars hold that a divorce oath (halaf bi al-talaq) results in divorce if the oath is broken, whether the intent was to cause divorce, to threaten, or anything else. This is the fatwa (juridical opinion) acted upon. Some scholars, like Ibn Taymiyyah, are of the opinion that the ruling on a divorce oath, when there is no intention of making divorce conditional, is the same as an oath sworn by Allah. Thus, if the oath is broken, the one who swore it must offer expiation for an oath (kaffarat yameen), and divorce does not occur.

Based on the fatwa acted upon, if you play again, divorce will occur for both of your wives, as long as you did not specify one of them. If this divorce does not complete the three divorces, you have the right to reconcile during the 'iddah (waiting period).

As for Ibn Taymiyyah's view, if you did not intend for divorce to occur with your oath, then divorce will not occur upon your resuming play, but you will be liable for expiation for an oath. It should be noted that if games involve a Sharia transgression, they are forbidden. If they are free from haram, then one should not waste time on them. The permissible oath is an oath sworn by Allah Almighty. Swearing by divorce is among the oaths of the dissolute, and one should be wary of it.

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

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