What are the cases in which divorce takes the ruling of an oath and only expiation is obligatory?
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The questioner : What are the cases in which divorce takes the ruling of an oath and only expiation is obligatory, because this issue has caused debate among us and there is some confusion in it?
The Shaykh : Most scholars hold that a divorce conditioned on a specific event is an absolute divorce, whether the speaker intended an oath or intended divorce. So if he says to his wife, "If you speak to so-and-so, you are divorced," and she speaks to him, she is divorced in all cases.
Some scholars have detailed this issue and said: If he says to his wife, "If you speak to so-and-so, you are divorced," and he intends the actual occurrence of the divorce—meaning that if she speaks to him, he has no desire for her and no need for her, and his only need is to separate from her in this situation—then it is a condition by which the woman is divorced if it occurs. However, if he intends the meaning of an oath, meaning that by saying, "If you speak to so-and-so, you are divorced," he intends to prevent her and threaten her without divorcing her, and the woman is precious to him such that even if she spoke to so-and-so, he would not divorce her, then in this case the condition takes the ruling of an oath. If she speaks to this man whom he warned her against speaking to, she is not divorced, but he must expiate the oath. The expiation of the oath is what Allah mentioned in His saying:[Al-Ma'idah 5:89] These are three things in which one is given a choice [Al-Baqarah 2:196].
Feeding the poor is done in two ways. The first is that he prepares food for lunch or dinner and invites them to eat.
The second is that he gives them grain, rice, or wheat, or something similar from the middle of what people eat in his place and time. The amount of rice is six kilograms, but it should be accompanied by something that sustains them, such as meat or otherwise, so that the feeding is complete.
The questioner : Six kilograms for feeding all ten?
The Shaykh : Yes, six kilograms for feeding all ten.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : Most scholars hold that a divorce conditioned on a specific event is an absolute divorce, whether the speaker intended an oath or intended divorce. So if he says to his wife, "If you speak to so-and-so, you are divorced," and she speaks to him, she is divorced in all cases.
Some scholars have detailed this issue and said: If he says to his wife, "If you speak to so-and-so, you are divorced," and he intends the actual occurrence of the divorce—meaning that if she speaks to him, he has no desire for her and no need for her, and his only need is to separate from her in this situation—then it is a condition by which the woman is divorced if it occurs. However, if he intends the meaning of an oath, meaning that by saying, "If you speak to so-and-so, you are divorced," he intends to prevent her and threaten her without divorcing her, and the woman is precious to him such that even if she spoke to so-and-so, he would not divorce her, then in this case the condition takes the ruling of an oath. If she speaks to this man whom he warned her against speaking to, she is not divorced, but he must expiate the oath. The expiation of the oath is what Allah mentioned in His saying:
the feeding of ten needy people from the average of that which you feed your [own] families or clothing them or the freeing of a slave
إِطْعَامُ عَشَرَةِ مَسَاكِينَ مِنْ أَوْسَطِ مَا تُطْعِمُونَ أَهْلِيكُمْ أَوْ كِسْوَتُهُمْ أَوْ تَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍAnd whoever cannot find [or afford such an animal] - then a fast of three days
فَمَنْ لَمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ ثَلاثَةِ أَيَّامٍFeeding the poor is done in two ways. The first is that he prepares food for lunch or dinner and invites them to eat.
The second is that he gives them grain, rice, or wheat, or something similar from the middle of what people eat in his place and time. The amount of rice is six kilograms, but it should be accompanied by something that sustains them, such as meat or otherwise, so that the feeding is complete.
The questioner : Six kilograms for feeding all ten?
The Shaykh : Yes, six kilograms for feeding all ten.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.