The ruling on swearing divorce to prevent a wife from going out
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner says: I hope Your Eminence will inform me about this question. I swore to my wife with a triple divorce oath that she would not leave the house. After I traveled, she went out and left. When I had forbidden her from going, what should I do? I beg of you.
Answer:
If you said, “If you go out, you are divorced,” and your intention was to prevent her, not to divorce her—your intention was to stop her or prevent her—then there is a sin of breaking an oath if she goes out. But if your intention was to effect the divorce, to effect the divorce, and she was unaware or forgetful, then it does not take place. If she goes out while forgetful or ignorant, nothing takes place. But if she knows that you are divorcing her, and she is remembering, and your intention is divorce, then the divorce takes place. Fear Allah, all of you.
This questioner says: I hope Your Eminence will inform me about this question. I swore to my wife with a triple divorce oath that she would not leave the house. After I traveled, she went out and left. When I had forbidden her from going, what should I do? I beg of you.
Answer:
If you said, “If you go out, you are divorced,” and your intention was to prevent her, not to divorce her—your intention was to stop her or prevent her—then there is a sin of breaking an oath if she goes out. But if your intention was to effect the divorce, to effect the divorce, and she was unaware or forgetful, then it does not take place. If she goes out while forgetful or ignorant, nothing takes place. But if she knows that you are divorcing her, and she is remembering, and your intention is divorce, then the divorce takes place. Fear Allah, all of you.
Source
فتاوى المسجد الحرام (شعبان ١٤١٧ هـ) - ١ — archive.org (1:00:44)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.