The Shaykh’s remarks on conditional divorce.

The Shaykh : The point is that a person does not know where good lies, and here, too, if he intends by this divorce to threaten her and not actually to divorce her, then it is an oath of divorce, not a divorce.

The questioner : Yes, and he must expiate it with the expiation for an oath.

The Shaykh : Yes, that is right. But if he intends divorce, then the divorce takes effect according to the other conditions known among jurists, some of which are subject to scholarly disagreement. For example, I distinguish between a man who hears bad and suspicious news about his wife.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : That he simply sees the husband passing by her neighbor’s house.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : But the news was not true, at least initially. So he said to her, “If I hear that you went into this neighbor’s house, or if I see you entering your neighbor’s house, you are divorced.” This is completely different from saying, “By Allah, do not go to your sister’s house, and if you go a second time, you are divorced.” In that case, it is possible that he intended to threaten her, but here the possibility is weak.

The questioner : Correct.

The Shaykh : The strong possibility is that she is not chaste, so he wants to divorce her. Therefore, conditional divorce itself is not ruled to be a divorce until his intention is examined. That is, the scholars or jurists divide divorce into two categories for certain considerations: explicit divorce and implicit divorce. Explicit divorce is effective, and his intention is not considered. If he says to her, “Go, I have divorced you,” and she says, “No, by Allah, I only intended to threaten her,” he is not believed. But if he says to her, “Go to your family,” and when the matter is investigated, he says, “I did not intend to divorce her,” he is given the choice and he is believed. That is, in the first case, he is not believed, and swearing an oath of divorce is of the second type. He says, “Go to your family,” and his intention is considered.

The questioner : “Go to your family.” If he intended divorce, then it is a divorce.

The Shaykh : But if he says to her, “Go, you are divorced,” his statement that “I did not intend divorce” is not accepted.

The questioner : This is explicit.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : This is regarding explicit and implicit divorce.

The Shaykh : This second one is implicit divorce, meaning.

The questioner : If you ask the man and he says, “I intended that if I sent to that woman, if I sent to her, but the woman did not come; I did not send to her, she came on her own as a visitor.”

The Shaykh : ... .

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : If she came, what does that mean?

The questioner : I mean ... if I sent to her, this implies that I sent to her to inform her about what took place between us.

The Shaykh : She came back, where were we? May Allah guide you.

The questioner : This is, I mean, his intention. The issue of divorce is actually, I mean, we need to sit with you because sometimes ... one of you, I mean, falls into it, for example, then regrets it and tries to find ways out.

The questioner : And the triple divorce, you say, as Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz says, in one session, only one divorce takes place?

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : Excuse me, our Shaykh, no harm, O Shaykh, until we focus on this issue. May Allah bless you. I mean, the one who says, “If you go to your family, you are divorced,” his intention is not considered in this?

The Shaykh : This is conditional divorce.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : His intention is considered.

The questioner : But when is his intention not considered?

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : When is his intention not considered?

The Shaykh : “You are divorced.”
The student : Explicit.

The questioner : Yes, there is no conditionality in it.

Another questioner : Explicit is clear. And not. Explicit is clear, but the other, the Shaykh means implicit divorce, this conditional one ... he must be asked about his intention.