A man who frequently swore oaths of divorce and pronounced zihar against his wife, and after learning that this is zihar and not permissible, expiated for it by feeding sixty poor people.

The questioner : In the early days of my marriage, I used to swear oaths of divorce frequently. I would swear often, and I would often swear for a reason or without a reason, such as saying, "I am under a divorce if such and such happens," or "I am under a divorce if you do not spend the night here tonight." In fact, sometimes it would happen and sometimes nothing would come of it. It happened that I said to my wife, "You are forbidden to me, like my mother and my sister." Then two years passed, and I committed myself to the law of Allah, praise be to Allah. I then learned that this is what is called zihar, and I learned that its expiation is fasting for sixty days or feeding sixty poor people. So I abstained from my wife until I fed sixty poor people, and then I went to her. What is the ruling on the frequent swearing of divorce, considering that I was ignorant of many of the rulings of the Shari'ah? And what is the ruling if she did something of what I swore about? And did I fulfill the required expiation by feeding sixty poor people, or not?

The Shaykh : The answer to this question includes, first: that I advise this questioner and other Muslims that they should not frequent oaths of divorce, but rather that they should not swear oaths of divorce at all. This is because, according to the majority of scholars, an oath of divorce is considered a condition; if one breaks it, his wife is divorced. However, some scholars say that there is a detail in this: if one intends to effect the divorce, it is a condition by which the divorce takes place. But if one intends to prohibit, encourage, verify, or deny, then it is an oath by which the divorce does not take place, and it has the ruling of an oath; if he breaks it, he must expiate with the expiation for an oath. The expiation for an oath, as Allah the Exalted said: . What appears from the state of this person is that he intended an oath. Accordingly, it is obligatory for him to expiate with the expiation for an oath for the divorce in which his wife contradicted what he swore about her. Then, if the thing sworn about was one thing, one expiation for an oath suffices for him. If it was multiple things, it is obligatory for him to expiate for each one.
Second: This question includes the zihar that he mentioned. It is obligatory for the one who pronounces zihar to free a slave. If he does not find one, then fasting for two consecutive months. If he is unable to do that, then feeding sixty poor people, based on the saying of Allah the Exalted: . If this man who fed sixty poor people is unable to fast for two consecutive months, then he has cleared his conscience with this expiation. If he is able, then it is obligatory for him to fast for two consecutive months from now.