Husband Said to Her: 'Fine, We'll Get a Divorce'

27-3-2022 | IslamWeb

Question:

My husband and I had many arguments and I provoked him by saying 'just divorce me if you don't want this' and out of anger he said something like 'fine, we'll get a divorce' once and 'ok, we'll part ways' on another occasion. However, he clarified that he had no intentions of divorcing me, and it was all out of anger and my provocation. Is my marriage still valid? Or am I divorced because he said that ?

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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 is His slave and Messenger.

Your husband’s statements, ‘'Fine, we'll get a divorce',’ or ‘'ok, we'll part ways' fall under the category of the promise of divorce, which does not count as effective divorce in and of itself.

Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah said in Majmoo’ Al-Fatawa: “A promise of divorce is not effective (i.e., does not initiate divorce in and of itself) even if the used wordings are numerous, and it is neither obligatory nor desirable to fulfil such promise.” [End of quote]

Moreover, Hashiyat Al-Bajirmi ‘ala Sharh Al-Manhaj reads: “If a husband said ‘I divorce you,’ in the present tense, instead of ‘You are divorced,’ divorce does not take effect, because it counts as a mere promise of divorce.” [End of quote]

Accordingly, what you mentioned in your question does not effectuate divorce nor does it have any effect on the marital bond.

It is noteworthy that the spouses are enjoined to live in kindness with one another and it is impermissible for a wife to ask for divorce for no (Sharee’ah-acceptable) reason.

Allah knows best.