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Fatwa CenterHis parent and first wife forced him to divorce his second wife
Question
I have got two wives. When i got married to my second wife ,everyone became angry with me and they started opposing me,and i was left all alone . My parents started asking me to divorce my second wife. I loved her so much so i denied to divorce her. My first wife went to my second wife and insulted her infront of many people and tried to beat her up . I am airline pilot so my job is such that i have to stay away from home . and it became tension for me as my second wife was not safe from my first wife and her family. Then my first wife gave me threat that she would kill my kids and do suicide herself. and my first wife also told me that she will keep on beating and insulting my second wife in front of everyone. Then my parents and my first wife forced me to divorce my second wife otherwise the circumstances will go on. They made my life hell and i got only one solution to come out of it, and so i divorced my second wife on paper but in my heart i was not ready for such act. During this process father of my first wife accompanied me to monitor me. So that they could be sure that i have divorced my second beloved wife. I cried a lot and begged them all not to force me to divorce her but nobody listened to me . i was left alone. I told them that it is impossible for me to leave my second wife and dont force me to make my second wife haram for me but no one helped me. I still love her and i am unable to forget her and leave her. I wrote divorce to her only to protect her life and kids of my life and to protect her honour .
i have heard that divorce , by force and in such a way when someone do not intend it , does not happen. Please answer my question.
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.
The matter is as you heard that a person who is forced to divorce, his divorce does not take place. However, not all kinds of coerciveness is to be taken into consideration. We have previously mentioned in Fatwa 84247 that if a wife threatens to commit suicide, this is not a coerciveness that prevents divorce from taking place. We also stated in that Fatwa that if she threatens to kill her husband’s father or mother or any of his children, then this is a considerable coerciveness (that makes divorce ineffective).
Therefore, if what you mentioned is true that your first wife threatened to kill your children from her and you feared that she would do so, and you divorced your second wife because of this, then this divorce did not take place.
On the other hand, writing divorce is one of the metaphors of divorce as discussed in Fataawa 87034 and 89894. Hence, if you wrote the word divorce and you did not utter it while writing it, and you did not really intend to divorce your wife when you wrote it, then divorce does not take place.
Moreover, you are not obliged to obey your parents in divorcing your second wife if she is righteous and your parents did not have a sound reason for ordering you to divorce her; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 84056.
Furthermore, your first wife has no right to force you to divorce your second wife. The Prophet said: “It is not lawful for a woman to ask for the divorce of her sister (i.e. the other wife of her husband) in order to have everything for herself.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Allaah Knows best.
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