If a husband says to his wife: “I divorce you if you do such and such,” and then she does it, does the divorce take effect, knowing that he did not intend divorce but intended to prevent her from doing it?

The questioner : He says: I am a married man, and divorce occurred from me in two situations. The first: my wife’s mother came to our house and stayed with us for a short period. When she wanted to leave, along with her son, I prevented them because I wanted them to stay with us for a longer period. I said, “I divorce you if you do not stay with us tonight; I will throw into the sea whatever you bring us next time.” They usually bring us some gifts and food, but they did not stay; instead, they traveled. I asked one of the scholars in our village, and he said that in this instance, nothing is upon you, but in the next instance, if they bring you something, throw it into the sea. This matter became difficult for me for several reasons, so I wanted a way out of this oath. He said to me, “Give me your hand.” I placed it in his hand, and there was a white handkerchief between them. He began to recite some invocations, and I repeated after him. Then he said, “Give your wife a small amount of money, and this is the expiation of your oath.” For your information, I did not intend to divorce my wife; rather, I intended to compel my wife’s mother and her son to stay with us. So, is anything still upon me after this? The second situation: when a dispute occurred between my wife and my mother, my wife left the house and went to her parents’ house. I wanted to reconcile them, so I went and took my wife to appease my mother. On the way, she was talking, so I said to her, “I divorce you if you do not stop talking on the way.” But she did not stop and spoke after I had sworn. I went to the same first scholar, and he issued a ruling for me similar to what he did the first time. Knowing that I also did not intend divorce in this last oath, but rather intended to prevent her from talking, does any of these take effect, and what am I required to do now? Guide us, may Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : Our guidance to you, based on what we know of the Shari'ah of Allah, is to avoid such oaths—oaths of divorce—because they are oaths that are not prescribed, nor were they known in the era of the Salaf, in the era of the Companions. Therefore, they are among the oaths that a believer should not swear, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: We call this an oath because it is in the ruling of an oath, but it is not the oath that is swearing by divorce. Swearing by divorce or by anything else of the created things is considered forbidden and a type of shirk (associating partners with Allah). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So, whoever swears by other than Allah, such as saying “By the Prophet” or “By the Messenger” or “By the Ka'bah” or “By my honor” or the like of what the ignorant swear by, that is forbidden for him and not permissible. He must repent to Allah from this matter.
As for what occurred from you regarding your wife’s mother and your wife in the second instance, you have clarified in your question that you did not intend divorce, but rather intended an oath, where you wanted to prevent your wife’s mother from traveling and wanted to prevent your wife from talking during the journey. Since this is your intention, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) says: However, the expiation for this is not as the mufti you consulted told you. Rather, the expiation for this is to feed ten poor people or clothe them. Feeding them—feeding the poor—in the expiation of an oath is done in two ways: either you prepare food for lunch or dinner and invite them to it, meaning you invite the poor to this lunch or dinner and they eat, or you give it to them uncooked. The amount is six kilograms of rice, and it is good to include meat with it to be a side dish for it, so that the feeding is complete. This is because Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) mentioned feeding generally and did not specify what is fed. He said (Glorified and Exalted is He): He specified the one to whom it is given but did not specify what is given. So, what has become customary to be food is food. It is known that lunch or dinner is considered feeding them, so it is said, “We fed them” when you provide them lunch. Therefore, you are now required to perform the expiation of an oath: feeding ten poor people or clothing them. In these two cases, the scholars differed on whether you are required to perform two expiations, one for each oath, due to the difference in what was sworn upon, or whether one expiation is sufficient for you, because the expiation is of one type, and the multiplication of the causes for it does not necessitate its multiplication. Just as if a person commits multiple types of ritual impurity, one wudu' (ablution) suffices for him. That is, if a person sleeps, eats camel meat, passes wind, urinates, and defecates, one wudu' suffices for him for all of these five, because the obligation in them is one thing. Similarly, if the obligation in the oaths is one thing, one expiation suffices for all of them. This is the well-known position in the madhhab (school of jurisprudence) of Imam Ahmad. However, if you perform two expiations due to the difference in the two actions, that is better and more cautious. Yes.

The questioner : Regarding the ruling issued by this person, meaning that he pays some money to...

The Shaykh : I said during the answer that it is not correct.