Told His Wife ‘If You Do Not Pray You Are Divorced’

18-2-2023 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamualaikum I want to know about conditional divorce.{I told to my wife if you do not pray namaz you are divorce }As far as I know conditional divorce depends on intention. I am very confused or in doubt about my intentions. If there is any doubt about my intention, will conditional divorce be valid or not? What is the ruling of Islam?

---

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.

The view that we adopt here in Islamweb is that conditional divorce occurs when the matter on which the divorce is made conditional takes place. This is whether the husband intended to issue divorce or to threaten or to confirm; this is the view of most scholars, including the four Imams ().

Some scholars, such as Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said that conditional divorce with the intent of threatening or affirming and not with the intention of initiating divorce does not take place; however, it is obligatory to atone for breaking this oath.

Accordingly, if your wife disagreed with you and did not pray, then the view we adopt here in Islamweb is that divorce took place, whether you intended to divorce, or threaten, or confirm. If that divorce is not the third divorce, you can take your wife back before the expiry of her waiting period.

However, according to the view of Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah the divorce does not take place as long as you did not intend to initiate it with this condition on her, or if you were suspicious of your intention, but you must make atonement for breaking your oath.

The occurrence of oath-breaking depends on your intention of what you uttered in your oath. The intention in the oath specifies what is general and restricts the absolute; i.e., if you intended a specific prayer or a particular time, and your wife contradicted you about it, then you broke your oath, otherwise it is not broken.

In such matters, it is recommended to present the issue orally if it is possible to the scholars who are trusted in their knowledge and their religion so that they can ask questions to the questioner and issue to him a Fatwa according to his case.

Allah knows best.