Fatwa: # 15988
Category: Divorce
Country: United Kingdom
Date: 11th December 2007

Title

Does divorce take effect in Having thoughts about divorcing wife…

Question

Does divorce take effect in the following situations:

Having thoughts about divorcing wife……If one says 'I divorce you three times' in ones MIND ONLY with an INTENTION to divorce, BUT was imagining scenarios, and NOT SURE if the intention was FIRM because I have been INTENDING to divorce FOR SOME TIME NOW, BUT no words were uttered and the tongue did not move, then does divorce take effect? Also this happened to me while reading salaat, because of which I forgot the number of rakaat. 
 
If one is telling someone that ‘I have already divorced her twice’, (regarding which I am not sure, whether I did or not), or if one says or thinks that ‘I have nothing for her in my heart’ then does divorce take effect by these statement?

Answer

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatoh

Talaq does not occur by one merely thinking about talaq without uttering it.

Fatawa Mahmoodia (12/265) Jamia Farooqiyya

Marqi al-Fallah p.219 Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya

Rad al-Muhtar (3/230) H.M. Saeed Company

- حتى لو أجرى الطلاق على قلبه وحرك لسانه من غير تلفظ يسمع لا يقع – مراقى الفلاح

- ( قوله وركنه لفظ مخصوص ) هو ما جعل دلالة على معنى الطلاق من صريح أو كناية فخرج الفسوخ على ما مر ، وأراد اللفظ ولو حكما ليدخل الكتابة المستبينة وإشارة الأخرس والإشارة إلى العدد بالأصابع في قوله أنت طالق هكذا كما سيأتي . وبه ظهر أن من تشاجر مع زوجته فأعطاها ثلاثة أحجار ينوي الطلاق ولم يذكر لفظا لا صريحا ولا كناية لا يقع عليه كما أفتى به الخير الرملي وغيره ، وكذا ما يفعله بعض سكان البوادي من أمرها بحلق شعرها لا يقع به طلاق وإن نواه

2.  If a person states that he has already divorced the wife twice in which he didn’t give talaq, then two talaq will occur.

Al-Mabsoot li al-Sarakhsi (3:2/109) Dar al-Fikr

Rad al-Muhtar (3/239) H.M. Saeed Company

أن من أقر بطلاق سابق يكون ذلك إيقاعا منه في الحال ؛ لأن من ضرورة الاستناد الوقوع في الحال ، وهو مالك للإيقاع غير مالك للإسناد (المبسوط)

ولو أقر بالطلاق كاذبا أو هازلا وقع قضاء لا ديانة... كما لو أقر بالطلاق هازلا أو كاذبا فقال في البحر ، وإن مراده لعدم الوقوع في المشبه به عدمه ديانة ، ثم نقل عن البزازية والقنية لو أراد به الخبر عن الماضي كذبا لا يقع ديانة ، وإن أشهد قبل ذلك لا يقع قضاء أيضا .

3.  Talaq does not occur by the words, “I have nothing for her in my heart”.

And Allah knows best

Wassalam

Ml. Ehzaz Ajmeri,
Student Darul Iftaa

Checked and Approved by:

Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Darul Iftaa

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