Marriage is a 'solemn covenant', so divorce should not be taken lightly Fatwa No: 293002
- Fatwa Date:28-4-2015
I said to my wife " if u dont obey me, give me khula/talaq. then i taught her the words. she told me as i taught " i give u talaq because ur mua'malat is bad. then i said to her " I accept it". Is this a valid talaq?1.There was no mention of returning of my mahr from her or my side2.When i said " I accept it" my intention was I was giving her 2nd talaq.3. before 1 week of this above mentioned 2nd talaq, i gave her 1st talaq which was explicit.4.before this explicit 1st talaq i told her "if u leave for ur house THIS time then this is the end. My intention was to give her talaq, but i forgot what i meant by 'THIS' time.5. before point no 4, i told her " if u disobey me again then u r divorced in sha allah". (my intention was not to give her talaq)6. before this point no5, i told her " if u stray from my order even the amount of a single hair/a bit then, this is the end/u r divorced/u r rejected".not sure which were my exact words, but my intention was not to give her talaq and since i feared that this could be a talaq, after 2/3 seconds i said " might happen" and in english i couldnt organize point no 6 because i am from bangladesh and i wanted to explain that, by "might happen" i meant i completed my speech by these words i more completed my speech. In bengali the speech was complete but since i feared that my words could lead to a talaq i added "might happen" in bengali which again completed the sentence but the gap of these 2 complete sentences was 2/3 seconds.Is she still my wife?help me plz. im in a great trouble. may allah bless u all.
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Marriage is a covenant between a husband and wife, and Allaah called it a solemn covenant. Allaah says (what means): {And how could you take it while you have gone in unto each other and they have taken from you a solemn covenant?} [Quran 4:21]
Jaabir related that the Prophet said: “Fear Allaah concerning your wives as you have taken them by the covenant of Allaah and made their private parts lawful to you by the words of Allaah.” [Muslim]
One should not risk undermining a matter of such importance by saying such things (which you mentioned in your question).
Besides, the question includes matters not only which the scholars have differing opinions about, but also which contain ambiguities that require asking you for more details about them. Therefore, it is better for a Muslim judge to investigate your case for an appropriate judgment to be made. We advise you to consult an Islamic court or to verbally ask trustworthy scholars in your country.
Allaah Knows best.