Ruling on Conditional Divorce Linked to Gambling

19-5-2026 | IslamWeb

Question:

In past i was playing online gambling in my mobile phone i lost a lot of money but I try and try to not play this games. One day a lost a more money and due to anger for loss of money i say that my wafe is divorce for me if i play this game in future but wife is not present here.. But after 3 to 4 months i again start this gambling game. But now i was fully ignore that gambling games.... Now in present time my wife is divorce for me or not

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad (ﷺ) is His Slave and Messenger.

It is obligatory upon you to avoid gambling and to repent immediately from what has previously occurred of it.

As for divorce, the fatwa we issue is that a divorce suspended upon a condition takes effect when the condition is fulfilled, regardless of whether the husband intended actual divorce or merely intended a threat, emphasis, deterrence, or something similar. This is the view of the majority of the scholars, including the four Imams of Fiqh ().

Accordingly, since you suspended your wife’s divorce upon returning to electronic gambling and then returned to it, the fatwa we issue is that your wife has become divorced from you, even if she was not present at the time.

If this divorce was not the third and final divorce, then you may take your wife back before the completion of her waiting period (ʿiddah). The revocation takes place by saying, “I take back my wife.” For further details regarding this matter, please refer to Fatwas 473365 and 370447.

Allah Knows best.