He says: I made a mistake against another person, and I fear that if I apologize to him, the problem will increase. I repented to Allah, but then he came to me
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Question:
He says: I am a person, and praise be to Allah, I am married and have three children. I am upright and I pray the obligatory prayers at their times to the best of my ability, and praise be to Allah for the blessing of Islam. However, I made a mistake against another person, and I feared that if I apologized to him, the problem would increase. So I repented to Allah between myself and Him. But a friend of mine met me and asked me, "Did this mistake really happen on your part?" So, to clear myself in your eyes, I said to him, "No." He then said to me, "If someone asks you about the person you made a mistake against, or the person himself, say to him this phrase: 'My wife is forbidden to me, like my mother and my sister. This did not happen on my part.'" I repeated this phrase after him, but no one asked me, and I did not repeat it a second time. At the same time, my intention was not directed toward divorce, and my wife did not know anything about it. This matter has passed for eight years. What is the ruling of the Shari'ah regarding repeating this phrase? Is this an oath or not? And what are the conditions of repentance from it? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
This guidance that this person gave you is wrong. He told you that if someone asks you, "Did you say or do such and such regarding so-and-so," you should forbid your wife and divorce her, saying that you did not do that thing. This is wrong guidance, and this action is not permissible. What is the case that you did not do it, no one asked you, and you did not say any of that? Rather, if someone were to ask you to say it, then this would not have any effect.
Your repeating it in following this instructor has no effect; because you only wanted to learn these words, and you did not apply them, because you did not intend to apply them unless someone asked you, according to your words and according to your question. You owe nothing in that matter. But beware of uttering these words, on this occasion or any other; because they are dangerous words, and they have bad effects, and severe rulings follow from them. So you must be cautious of these words. Uttering them is not permissible.
He says: I am a person, and praise be to Allah, I am married and have three children. I am upright and I pray the obligatory prayers at their times to the best of my ability, and praise be to Allah for the blessing of Islam. However, I made a mistake against another person, and I feared that if I apologized to him, the problem would increase. So I repented to Allah between myself and Him. But a friend of mine met me and asked me, "Did this mistake really happen on your part?" So, to clear myself in your eyes, I said to him, "No." He then said to me, "If someone asks you about the person you made a mistake against, or the person himself, say to him this phrase: 'My wife is forbidden to me, like my mother and my sister. This did not happen on my part.'" I repeated this phrase after him, but no one asked me, and I did not repeat it a second time. At the same time, my intention was not directed toward divorce, and my wife did not know anything about it. This matter has passed for eight years. What is the ruling of the Shari'ah regarding repeating this phrase? Is this an oath or not? And what are the conditions of repentance from it? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
This guidance that this person gave you is wrong. He told you that if someone asks you, "Did you say or do such and such regarding so-and-so," you should forbid your wife and divorce her, saying that you did not do that thing. This is wrong guidance, and this action is not permissible. What is the case that you did not do it, no one asked you, and you did not say any of that? Rather, if someone were to ask you to say it, then this would not have any effect.
Your repeating it in following this instructor has no effect; because you only wanted to learn these words, and you did not apply them, because you did not intend to apply them unless someone asked you, according to your words and according to your question. You owe nothing in that matter. But beware of uttering these words, on this occasion or any other; because they are dangerous words, and they have bad effects, and severe rulings follow from them. So you must be cautious of these words. Uttering them is not permissible.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، يقول: وقع مني خطأ في حق شخص آخر، وأخشى أن أعتذر له فتزيد المشكلة، وتبت إلى الله ولكن جاء إلي.. — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.