My wife pronounced a divorce on herself
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Fatwa number ( 563 )
Q: My wife pronounced a divorce on herself. She asked a brother she knows
to buy her something, and the brother agreed by being absent from work on a specific day and coming to me so I could go with him to buy what she requested. I did not have any money because my salary had not yet arrived, and she knew that. She had money because she works, while I am free to focus on my studies. I told her: “The brother will arrive after you go to work, so leave him the amount.” She agreed without any acceptable excuse. I repeated the necessity of leaving the amount for him, because the brother, out of kindness, had stopped his work and would come, and there was no need to embarrass him. She did not listen and left without leaving the amount. I followed her to her workplace to ask her if she had heard what I said, so I could be sure whether she had heard or not. She said she had heard. I said to her: “Did you understand what I said?” She said: “I am aware of what I said.” So I knew that a divorce had occurred. I apologized for my mistake. What is the ruling here? And since she is a relative of mine, I will take her back. Do I say to her: “You are taken back,” and is that sufficient between us without involving other people in the matter, or are witnesses necessary, or what? Please inform us.
A: If the matter is as you described, that your wife pronounced a divorce on herself, then if you did not give her the authority to divorce herself and did not appoint her as your agent in divorcing herself, then what happened from her side is not considered a divorce, and you do not need to take her back, because divorce belongs to the husband, not the wife. And if you
gave her the authority to divorce herself or appointed her as your agent in divorcing herself, then her divorce of herself is considered valid, and you may take her back as long as she is in the waiting period, and you must have two witnesses to the taking back, unless what happened from her side was the third of three divorces. If that happened, she does not become lawful to you again except after another husband, with a new contract and a new bridal gift, with her consent. Know that the waiting period of a pregnant woman ends with the delivery of her pregnancy, and the waiting period of a non-pregnant woman is three menstrual cycles if she is one who menstruates, and the waiting period of a young girl who has not reached menstruation and an old woman who has despaired of menstruation is three months. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q: My wife pronounced a divorce on herself. She asked a brother she knows
to buy her something, and the brother agreed by being absent from work on a specific day and coming to me so I could go with him to buy what she requested. I did not have any money because my salary had not yet arrived, and she knew that. She had money because she works, while I am free to focus on my studies. I told her: “The brother will arrive after you go to work, so leave him the amount.” She agreed without any acceptable excuse. I repeated the necessity of leaving the amount for him, because the brother, out of kindness, had stopped his work and would come, and there was no need to embarrass him. She did not listen and left without leaving the amount. I followed her to her workplace to ask her if she had heard what I said, so I could be sure whether she had heard or not. She said she had heard. I said to her: “Did you understand what I said?” She said: “I am aware of what I said.” So I knew that a divorce had occurred. I apologized for my mistake. What is the ruling here? And since she is a relative of mine, I will take her back. Do I say to her: “You are taken back,” and is that sufficient between us without involving other people in the matter, or are witnesses necessary, or what? Please inform us.
A: If the matter is as you described, that your wife pronounced a divorce on herself, then if you did not give her the authority to divorce herself and did not appoint her as your agent in divorcing herself, then what happened from her side is not considered a divorce, and you do not need to take her back, because divorce belongs to the husband, not the wife. And if you
gave her the authority to divorce herself or appointed her as your agent in divorcing herself, then her divorce of herself is considered valid, and you may take her back as long as she is in the waiting period, and you must have two witnesses to the taking back, unless what happened from her side was the third of three divorces. If that happened, she does not become lawful to you again except after another husband, with a new contract and a new bridal gift, with her consent. Know that the waiting period of a pregnant woman ends with the delivery of her pregnancy, and the waiting period of a non-pregnant woman is three menstrual cycles if she is one who menstruates, and the waiting period of a young girl who has not reached menstruation and an old woman who has despaired of menstruation is three months. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.