The Ruling on Divorce by Intention
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Your Eminence! If a person intends to divorce, does the divorce take effect?
If he intends to divorce, the divorce does not take effect. Rather, even if he tells himself that he will divorce her, the divorce does not take effect.If he had said: He might write a paper saying, "I am divorcing my wife now," and then bring the paper and pen, but he changes his mind, so there is no divorce.The evidence for this is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): (Indeed, Allah has pardoned my Ummah for what they tell themselves, as long as they do not act upon it or speak it) This is a blessing from Allah. This applies to the ordinary person who is balanced.
As for the person who suffers from obsessive doubts, his divorce does not take effect even if he utters the words of divorce; because some people—may Allah protect us from such affliction—are tested with obsessive doubts regarding their spouses, and you find that he divorces his wife against his will, to the extent that if he were to search the mushaf or a book to read, Satan would say to him: “You said: If I search the book, my wife is divorced,” until he is beset with doubts about everything. This person’s divorce does not take effect, even if he writes it with his own hand and speaks it with his own tongue.The evidence for this is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): (There is no divorce in compulsion) And compulsion means that it is forced upon a person until he does the thing without his will.
If he intends to divorce, the divorce does not take effect. Rather, even if he tells himself that he will divorce her, the divorce does not take effect.If he had said: He might write a paper saying, "I am divorcing my wife now," and then bring the paper and pen, but he changes his mind, so there is no divorce.The evidence for this is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): (Indeed, Allah has pardoned my Ummah for what they tell themselves, as long as they do not act upon it or speak it) This is a blessing from Allah. This applies to the ordinary person who is balanced.
As for the person who suffers from obsessive doubts, his divorce does not take effect even if he utters the words of divorce; because some people—may Allah protect us from such affliction—are tested with obsessive doubts regarding their spouses, and you find that he divorces his wife against his will, to the extent that if he were to search the mushaf or a book to read, Satan would say to him: “You said: If I search the book, my wife is divorced,” until he is beset with doubts about everything. This person’s divorce does not take effect, even if he writes it with his own hand and speaks it with his own tongue.The evidence for this is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): (There is no divorce in compulsion) And compulsion means that it is forced upon a person until he does the thing without his will.