The Ruling on Divorce Conditioned on the Occurrence of a Certain Act

His fourth and final question is: A man said to his wife, “I am divorced if you do that thing.” So she disobeyed him and did it immediately. What should he do? Is this considered an oath for which he must make expiation, or what?
Answer: If he says to his wife, “I am divorced if you do this thing,” there are two possibilities:
The first is that he intends to effect the divorce if she does it. This counts as one pronouncement of divorce. Such a statement counts as one pronouncement against him. If he had previously pronounced two divorces, she is divorced from him. If he had not previously pronounced two divorces, this counts as one pronouncement against him. This applies if he said, “I am divorced if I speak to so-and-so,” or “if you do not do such-and-such,” or “if you visit so-and-so,” or the like, and he intends to effect the divorce if she does it, meaning his intention is to divorce her. In this case, the divorce takes effect. However, if his intention was to prevent her and frighten her, and not to divorce her or effect the divorce, but he said it only to prevent her from doing this thing—“I am divorced if I speak to so-and-so,” or “if you enter so-and-so’s house,” or the like—intending to prevent her, frighten her, and deter her, and he did not intend or mean to effect the divorce or separate from her, then this has the ruling of an oath. Its ruling is the ruling of an oath according to the more correct of the two opinions of the scholars. He must pay the expiation for an oath, which is feeding ten poor people, or clothing them. The food for each person is half a sa’ (a dry measure of about 3 kg) of dates or rice, or the staple food of the country. Half a sa’ is equivalent to one and a half kilograms of that food. This is the expiation for an oath in such a case. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you.