The ruling on the occurrence of divorce by utterance or intention

The questioner:
May Allah reward you. The sender is Muhammad Salim from Cairo, and he has two questions. In the first one, he says: If a husband utters the divorce of his wife, or if he intends it but does not utter it to his wife or to anyone else, does the divorce take effect or not? Yes. He says: If a husband utters the divorce of his wife, or if he intends it but does not utter it to his wife or to anyone else, does the divorce take effect or not?

The Shaykh:
As for when he utters the divorce, it takes effect. As for when he intends it but does not utter it, mere intention does not cause the divorce to take effect; rather, utterance is necessary. Yes.

The questioner:
Even if he is alone, for example, if he says, "My wife is divorced."

The Shaykh:
If he utters it, it takes effect, whether he has no one with him, or has someone with him, or is in the presence of his wife, or not in her presence. The important thing is that if he utters the divorce, it takes effect. Yes.