If a man says to his wife, “If you go out without my permission, you are divorced,” and then she goes out without his permission, does he have the right to retract his condition?

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

The questioner : May Allah reward you, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you, my brother.

The questioner : How are you this evening, if Allah wills, are you well?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, we are well. May Allah make you well.

The questioner : How is your health?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, I am well.

The questioner : May Allah strengthen you. How is the family, my Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, I am well.

The questioner : Some questions regarding the case of the brother... today I have an appointment with him, I told him to call me. There is a specific question regarding details that he has not clarified, so we need to ask about some things as a precaution, so that if he asks, he can call me and I can call him. Is that possible, my Shaykh?

The Shaykh : What are the details?

The questioner : I am afraid that some of the details, for example, regarding the case of a woman whose divorce was made conditional, for instance, he said: “If you go out without permission, you are divorced,” and she did not go out and he did not divorce her. I understood from you that it is permissible for him to retract his condition.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : May Allah preserve you. Now, suppose he made this condition and she went out.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : I mean, for example, in the case of this statement, he made his condition and there were witnesses. Does he have the right to retract?

The Shaykh: No.

The questioner : He does not have the right.

The Shaykh : But there is another detail here.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Here, he does not have the right to retract because the conditional divorce has occurred, whereas there, it has not yet occurred.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : But here, if the condition is fulfilled, the divorce occurs, but there is a detail.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And that is if he made the divorce conditional on the condition for the purpose of threatening and preventing the wife from doing what the husband does not want, and not with the actual intention of divorcing her, then if the condition is fulfilled, the divorce does not occur here, even if the condition is fulfilled. For example, a man whose wife visits her relatives frequently until he is fed up with the frequent visits, yes, and he admonished her many times, but the admonishment did not benefit her. So, for the purpose of threatening her, he said: “If you visit your relatives, you are divorced.” She visited them, but deep down he does not want to divorce her; he wants to discipline her. In this case, we see that the divorce does not occur. As for the other scenario, if he says, “If I see you talking to your neighbor, you are divorced,” and he actually wants to divorce her in this case because he has become suspicious of her chastity, then the divorce occurs here, provided the other conditions are met.

The questioner : So, my Shaykh, because I understood, of course, but so that I do not forget after writing it down, the second scenario, for example, a person says to his wife, “If I see you with the neighbor, I divorce you.” Here the divorce occurs because, originally, he has suspicion or something regarding her chastity.

The Shaykh : Yes, he actually intends to divorce her.

The questioner : Ah, because he intended the divorce.

The Shaykh : Yes, whereas in the first scenario, he did not intend the divorce.

The questioner : Yes, that is right. And in the second scenario, he did not intend the divorce. My Shaykh, may Allah preserve you. The other detail... I turned the page, I did not expect the answer to be this long. May Allah bless you, my Shaykh. Now, in the case of this statement without witnesses, of course, we benefited from you in that there are other issues similar to this, meaning that even if he divorces without witnesses, it remains conditional.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : So this is the same, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, O our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : May Allah preserve you.