I want to ask if a husband without intention of giving divorce but just to fear his wife and her family members if he says that he will give divorce to his wife and if he mailed three times that he wants to give divorce,but didnt used the word "talaaq"
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa
Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
ASSALAAMUALYKUM.
I want to ask if a husband without intention of giving divorce but just to fear
his wife and her family members if he says that he will give divorce to his
wife and if he mailed three times that he wants to give divorce,but didnt used
the word "talaaq" but just said that he will give divorce and end the
relationship with his wife but his intention is not to give divorce, then what
is this considered as,is this counted as divorce?please reply to this question
as soon as possible,i will be thankfull to you.
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Answer:
Give Divorce without Intention
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help
and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and
whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness
that there is no one (no idol, no person,
no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 2189 Narrated by Abu Hurayrah
The Prophet (saws) said: ‘There are
three things which, whether undertaken seriously or in jest, are treated
as serious: Marriage, divorce and taking back a wife (after a divorce
which is not final.)’
A believer must be
extremely careful when pronouncing ‘talaaq’ or (English: divorce) to his wife,
for whether it is said in jest or seriousness, in anger or in calmness, with
intention or without intention, it will be treated as a legal divorce in the
Sight of Islamic Law and of Allah Subhanah!
Your Question: I want to ask if a
husband without intention of giving divorce but just to fear his wife and her
family members if he says that he will give divorce to his wife and if he
mailed three times that he wants to give divorce,but didnt used the word
"talaaq" but just said that he will give divorce and end the
relationship with his wife but his intention is not to give divorce, then what
is this considered as,is this counted as divorce?
Firstly, it is not
necessary that one has to use the Arabic terminology of ‘talaaq’; if the
husband says or writes to his wife the term which means ‘I divorce you’ in any
language, it would constitute a legal divorce in the Sight of Islamic Law and
of Allah Subhanah.
Marriage and divorce
in Islam will not be evaluated by what are the ‘real’ intentions of the person,
but rather by what is declared. Just imagine the chaos and disruption to
society if one were to go through the whole process of marriage and later say
to the girl ‘My intentions were not to marry you!!!’ Similarly, when a husband pronounces a
divorce to his wife by saying ‘I divorce you’, regardless of his intentions, it
will constitute as a legal divorce in the Sight of Islamic Law.
In your particular
case, if your husband simply declared or mailed ‘I “will” divorce
you’, regardless of whatever were his intentions, it would NOT constitute a
divorce; because he did not give or put a condition after ‘will….’, it will
only mean that he reminded you of his right to pronounce divorce.
But if a husband were
to declare to his wife: ‘I will divorce you IF you go to Japan’, or ‘I will
divorce you IF you meet so-and-so again’, or ‘I will divorce you IF you wear a particular
dress’ or puts any condition whatsoever to the divorce, it would be what is
known in Islamic Jurisprudence and Fiqh as ‘talaaq-muallag’ or a ‘hanging divorce’. If the wife were to fulfill that condition by
ever ‘going to
Although possible, it
is highly unlikely that a man would simply remind his wife and her family of
his right of divorce without putting or giving a condition when he declares ‘I
will divorce you!’. As your brothers and
sincere well-wishers in faith, we urge in the effort for safety, to either ask
your husband or try to remember if he said or wrote ‘I will divorce you if
you do so and so….’; for then it would constitute a ‘hanging
divorce’, and were you ever to fulfill that condition, a divorce would legally
be established.
We reiterate again
that Allah has entrusted the ties of marriage in the hands of the believers;
the believers must fear Allah and honor this trust given to them by their Lord,
and be extremely careful when pronouncing this term of divorce to their wives
for it may have absolutely severe and dire consequences on the legality of
their marriage.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due
to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source
of Strength.
Your brother and well
wisher in Islam,
Burhan
