Ruling on one who swore by divorce not to enter his sister's house, then entered it
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Question:
A listener from Egypt, identified as (Y. Q. M), asks this question. He says: "I swore to my sister that I would not enter her house for five years. When I was traveling, I told my relative: 'Bring my sister so I can greet her outside the house, in the street.' When my sister arrived, I greeted her, and she pulled me inside the house. Did my oath take effect or not? My oath was: 'Divorce is upon me if I enter your house for five years,' and I was angry at the time?"
Answer:
Yes, since she pulled you and you entered the house of your own accord and agreed to enter, you have broken this oath. If you intended to prevent yourself from entering and did not intend to effect a divorce, then this is an oath, and you have broken it, so you owe the expiation for an oath. The divorce does not take effect on your wife if you only intended to prevent yourself from entering and to boycott your sister, and did not intend to effect a divorce on your wife. In this case, it is called an oath in terms of the legal ruling regarding expiation, and the divorce does not take effect according to the more correct of the scholars' opinions. Your wife remains in your guardianship.
The expiation is to feed ten poor people, or clothe them, or free a slave. Feeding them can be done by providing them a dinner or lunch, even if they eat separately, or by giving each of them half a sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg) of dates, rice, or other staple food of the country; each person receives half a sa', which is approximately one and a half kilograms. Alternatively, you may give each person a garment that suffices for prayer, such as a shirt, a lower garment, and a cloak, and that is sufficient. Praise be to Allah, along with repentance and seeking forgiveness for cutting off ties with your sister. Indeed, it is obligatory for a believer to maintain his family ties, and a sister is among the closest of kin. It is authentically reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:Sunan Abi Dawud 1696Sahih (Al-Albani) This is a great warning. And Allah says in His great Book: : [Muhammad:22-23]. This is also a great warning. Therefore, cutting off family ties is one of the major sins.
So, my brother, you must repent to Allah, maintain ties with your sister, and abandon this erroneous oath. You owe the expiation for an oath if you intended to prevent yourself from entering your sister's house and did not intend to effect a divorce.
However, if you intended to effect a divorce, then one divorce takes effect by your entering your sister's house. You may take her back immediately by testifying before two witnesses that you have taken back your wife, provided you had not divorced her twice before this.
If you had divorced her twice before, then this would be the third divorce, and she is not lawful to you again except after another husband, if you intended to effect a divorce. But if you did not intend to effect a divorce, and were only angry with your sister, intending to prevent yourself from her and from entering her house, and did not intend that if you entered, the divorce would take effect on your wife—you did not intend that; rather, what was in your mind and heart was only prevention, preventing yourself from entering your sister's house. For this reason, you swore to emphasize to yourself and prevent yourself from visiting your sister. We ask Allah for guidance for all of us.
A listener from Egypt, identified as (Y. Q. M), asks this question. He says: "I swore to my sister that I would not enter her house for five years. When I was traveling, I told my relative: 'Bring my sister so I can greet her outside the house, in the street.' When my sister arrived, I greeted her, and she pulled me inside the house. Did my oath take effect or not? My oath was: 'Divorce is upon me if I enter your house for five years,' and I was angry at the time?"
Answer:
Yes, since she pulled you and you entered the house of your own accord and agreed to enter, you have broken this oath. If you intended to prevent yourself from entering and did not intend to effect a divorce, then this is an oath, and you have broken it, so you owe the expiation for an oath. The divorce does not take effect on your wife if you only intended to prevent yourself from entering and to boycott your sister, and did not intend to effect a divorce on your wife. In this case, it is called an oath in terms of the legal ruling regarding expiation, and the divorce does not take effect according to the more correct of the scholars' opinions. Your wife remains in your guardianship.
The expiation is to feed ten poor people, or clothe them, or free a slave. Feeding them can be done by providing them a dinner or lunch, even if they eat separately, or by giving each of them half a sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg) of dates, rice, or other staple food of the country; each person receives half a sa', which is approximately one and a half kilograms. Alternatively, you may give each person a garment that suffices for prayer, such as a shirt, a lower garment, and a cloak, and that is sufficient. Praise be to Allah, along with repentance and seeking forgiveness for cutting off ties with your sister. Indeed, it is obligatory for a believer to maintain his family ties, and a sister is among the closest of kin. It is authentically reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:
Anyone who cuts off relationship from his nearest relatives will not enter Paradise.
لا يدخل الجنة قاطع رحم(22) So would you perhaps, if you turned away, cause corruption on earth and sever your [ties of] relationship? (23) Those [who do so] are the ones that Allah has cursed, so He deafened them and blinded their vision.
فَهَلْ عَسَيْتُمْ إِنْ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ أَنْ تُفْسِدُوا فِي الأَرْضِ وَتُقَطِّعُوا أَرْحَامَكُمْ أُوْلَئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ فَأَصَمَّهُمْ وَأَعْمَى أَبْصَارَهُمْSo, my brother, you must repent to Allah, maintain ties with your sister, and abandon this erroneous oath. You owe the expiation for an oath if you intended to prevent yourself from entering your sister's house and did not intend to effect a divorce.
However, if you intended to effect a divorce, then one divorce takes effect by your entering your sister's house. You may take her back immediately by testifying before two witnesses that you have taken back your wife, provided you had not divorced her twice before this.
If you had divorced her twice before, then this would be the third divorce, and she is not lawful to you again except after another husband, if you intended to effect a divorce. But if you did not intend to effect a divorce, and were only angry with your sister, intending to prevent yourself from her and from entering her house, and did not intend that if you entered, the divorce would take effect on your wife—you did not intend that; rather, what was in your mind and heart was only prevention, preventing yourself from entering your sister's house. For this reason, you swore to emphasize to yourself and prevent yourself from visiting your sister. We ask Allah for guidance for all of us.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.