Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterUttering incomplete statement of conditional divorce
Question
Assalam o alikum, Please answer my question according to the Hanafi school of thought. My question is that, once my husband just intended conditional divorce to me but he didn't utter the words he just said incomplete words "If you will miss that person..." and then he was quiet. When I asked about his intention. He explained his intention of conditional divorce to me which he was about to say. If husband explains his intention of conditional divorce to wife, does divorce happen? His words of explaining conditional divorce were "I didn't utter any words to you. I just intended that I will divorce you if you will miss that person". These were the wordings of my husband while explaining his intention of conditional divorce. Secondly I want to ask that If my husband just intended that "you will be divorced if you will miss him" but while explaining his intention to me he said "I didn't utter any words to you. I just intended that I will divorce you if you will miss that person".
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and messenger.
In their pronouncements on the conditions of a conditional divorce, the Hanafi scholars mentioned that it is necessary for what is conditioned to be mentioned. The Commentary of Ibn ‘Aabideen reads (while numerating the conditions for the conditional divorce to take place): “'mentioning what is conditioned', that is, the conditional verb, because it is a condition for the consequence to take place. His saying '...is ineffectual': that is, she is not divorced (by such statement) because he did not make a full statement. Likewise, if he said, 'You are divorced three times unless...,' or '...or else', or '...if [something] is [so]', or '[something] is not [so].'” [End of quote]
So, in this case, he mentioned the divorce but he did not mention the condition, and the issue in question is that the condition was mentioned but the divorce is not mentioned, so it should be pronounced as ineffectual with even more reason.
The Maaliki jurists mentioned the same thing as the Hanafi scholars, which is that divorce does not take place. Shaykh ‘Ulaysh Al-Maaliki was asked: “What is your opinion on someone who was intent on pronouncing a conditional divorce on his wife and said: 'you are divorced three times if...', but his father put his hand on his mouth and prevented him to continue his statement? 'Ulaysh answered: “The divorce did not take place and he is not required to do anything. This is the same as the answer given by our Imaam Maalik about someone who wanted to condition the three divorces on something, and said, 'my wife is divorced three times if...', but he did not complete the statement, as quoted from Al-Mutayti by Al-Mawwaaq.” [End of quote]
Based on that, the mere intention here is of no effect; rather, there must be an explicit wording.
Also, if he said, I am going to divorce you, or you'll be divorced ... then this is a promise of divorce and it does not lead to divorce. Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah said: "The promise of divorce does not result in divorce, even if the words are many, and it is neither obligatory nor recommended to fulfill this promise."
Allaah Knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
