False oath by divorce

13-1-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

My husband said to me that if he had a relationship with a woman other than me, then I would be divorced. He already had relationships with other women and every time he swears by divorce that he had no such relationships, lying to me. Am I divorced or not? If yes, how many times?

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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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

This kind of divorce is known as “a conditional divorce”. The majority of scholars are of the view that once the matter on which the divorce is conditioned happens, divorce is effected. Shaykhul-Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah however, said that if the husband intended by this kind of divorce to merely threaten his wife or prevent her from doing something and did not intend divorce, it would be considered an oath and expiation would be obligatory for him.

According to the opinion of the majority of scholars, if your husband had a relationship with a woman other than you, of course this depends on your conventional idea about such a relationship, and he falsely swore by divorce more than twice, then you would be divorced and that man can not hold you in wedlock again, unless you marry another man.

According to the latter opinion, this divorce is considered an oath if the husband did not intend to divorce his wife.

Whatever the case may be, in such cases we recommend you to refer to the Sharee‘ah courts and scholars in your country.

Allaah Knows best.