The ruling on a husband saying to his wife, “If you do not return, I am not bound to you”

Question:
Your Excellency the Shaykh, a questioner says: A man said to his wife over the telephone, and she was in the house of her sister’s husband in another country. The man said to his wife over the telephone, and she was in the house of her sister’s husband in another country: “If you do not return to the house today, meaning her husband’s house, he says: If you do not return to the house today, I am not bound to you.” She did not return on that same day and excused herself by saying there was no transportation. Does this word count as a divorce?

Answer:
He must go to the Sharia court. He goes to the Sharia court, and the judge, if Allah wills, will look into his case and issue a ruling on what appears to him. In matters of divorce, one does not issue a ruling without the presence of the person, and sometimes the presence of the woman if the matter requires it. It is necessary to record what was said, write it down, and have him sign it. Finally, it is necessary to enter it into the computer so that nothing happens in the future where he denies this past divorce. We must set things straight, so you must go to the court, my brother. Yes.