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:

Dear Brother,

My friend didn't say to his wife that you are divorced, he said if you go there then I will give you divorce. Giving divorce and divorced are different. So please clearly tell me. Thanks

 

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Answer:

 

Conditional hanging divorce

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 none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

 

A conditional or hanging divorce is what is known in Islamic Jurispurdence as ‘talaq mutallaq’. 

 

A ‘talaq mutallaq’, or hanging, or conditional divorce is when a husband puts a condition to the divorce that if the wife does such and such, or if such and such happens, she is divorced.  As long as the condition is not fulfilled, the divorce pronouncement will remain ‘hanging’….and as soon as the condition is fulfilled, a divorce will be established, and one of the three divorce pronouncements of the marriage will be deemed utilized.

 

For example: if a husband says to his wife that if you meet such and such a person, you are divorced.  As long as the wife abstains from meeting that particular person, the divorce will remain in a ‘hanging’ mode; and as soon as she meets that person, the divorce will be established.

 

Or if the husband says if you cook fish in the house, you are divorced; or if you go to London you are divorced, etc…..basically any condition laid down by the husband whereby he clearly declares that if the wife were to do such and such a thing, she is divorced….such a divorce will remain ‘hanging’ or ‘conditional’ until the condition is fulfilled.

 

Your Question: My friend didn't say to his wife that you are divorced, he said if you go there then I will give you divorce.

An intention or threat to give divorce does not constitute a legal divorce in Shariah.  If you friend merely told his wife that if you go to such and such a place, ‘I will give you divorce’…..and even if the wife happens to go there, a divorce will not be established in Shariah.

 

But if (Allah forbid) your friend had said to his wife ‘If you go to such and such a place, you are divorced’….the statement of the husband would constitute a ‘hanging or conditional divorce’, and if the wife happened to go to that specified place, a divorce would indeed be established in their marriage in the Sight of Shariah.

 

The believers should fear Allah and be extremely careful regarding the declaration of divorce in their marriage, for even if one says the terms unto his wife in joke or jest, it will be taken as serious in the Sight of Allah Subhanah.

 

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).’

 

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