A man afflicted with numerous intrusive thoughts who frequently entertains the idea of divorce: does the divorce take effect if he only thinks about it without uttering it, and what should he do to be rid of this?

The questioner : He says: I am a married man, and it has been eight months since I got married. However, I am prone to intrusive thoughts, and I constantly feel my mind suggesting divorce. There is no problem between me and my wife, and I do not want to divorce her. Most of the time, these intrusive thoughts come to me while I am praying. I feel my mind saying, "If such and such happens, or regarding any specific matter, I will divorce her." Sometimes that thing actually happens, and sometimes it does not. Also, on some days, I sit with my wife and we talk about any topic that has nothing to do with this matter, but I do not feel anything except my mind saying, "She is divorced." However, I do not utter this intrusive thought in front of my wife. I have become doubtful about this matter. Please advise me on what to do, may Allah reward you with good, so that I can be rid of this intrusive thought. And does anything take effect because of it or not?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. Before answering this question, I would like to clarify to the brother questioner and to others listening to this program that Allah the Exalted says: . So Satan has attacks on the heart, through which he introduces anxiety and psychological fatigue to a person, thereby disturbing his life. Listen to the saying of Allah the Exalted: . It becomes clear to you that Satan is eager to cause sadness to a person, just as he is eager to corrupt his religion. The way to get rid of this is for a person to turn to his Lord with sincerity and devotion, and seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan, based on His saying: . Let him fortify himself with Allah (Mighty and Majestic) so that He protects him from this enemy, Satan. If he seeks refuge in Allah from him and turns to his Lord with sincerity, and turns away from it with his self as if nothing had happened of these intrusive thoughts, then Allah the Exalted will remove it from him. My advice to this brother who is afflicted with this intrusive thought regarding the divorce of his wife is that he should never pay attention to it, and that he should turn away from it completely. If he feels it in his self, let him seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan until Allah removes it from him.
As for the legal ruling, divorce does not take effect through these intrusive thoughts, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . So whatever a person entertains in his mind regarding divorce or anything else, it is not considered anything. And if it is divorce, it is not considered even if he intends in his mind to divorce; it does not become a divorce until he utters it, saying for example, "My wife is divorced." Then, for the one afflicted with intrusive thoughts, his divorce does not take effect even if he utters it with his tongue, if it is not done with intention, because this utterance from the tongue of the one with intrusive thoughts occurs without intention or will. Rather, he is compelled to it, forced by the strength of the impulse and the weakness of the restraint. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So his divorce does not take effect if he does not intend it with a true intention and tranquility. This thing that a person is forced to do without intention or choice does not result in a divorce. Some people who were afflicted with something like this told me that one of them said once, "Since I am in anxiety and fatigue, I will divorce." So he divorced with a true intention to get rid of this distress he felt in his self. This is a mistake, a great mistake. Satan does not want from the son of Adam anything but this: to separate him from his family, especially if there are children between them, for he loves to separate them even more because of the magnitude of the harm and enmity, as is known to everyone. One loves to harm his enemy by every path and by every means.
The method that this person I mentioned did is not correct, and it is not a cure for the one afflicted with intrusive thoughts to effect what Satan wants from him. Rather, his cure is to seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan.
A similar case is when some people are in a state of ritual purity and doubt about a state of ritual impurity: did he pass wind or not? He goes and urinates or passes wind from his rear in order to be certain that his ablution is broken, then he performs ablution. This is also a mistake, and it is contrary to what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) guided to, where he was asked about a man who feels something in his prayer, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So the important point is that all these doubts that arise regarding what is certain and established must be rejected by a person, and he should not consider them, and turn away from them until they disappear by the permission of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).

The questioner : May Allah bless you. This listener is E. T. A. H. from the Holy City of Madinah.