The Ruling on a Man Saying “I Am Divorced”

The questioner says in the remainder of his question: O Shaykh, I said to my father: “Divorce her, and I will marry you to someone better than her.” And I said to my father: “I am divorced if you do not divorce your wife.” He said: “I will not divorce her.” So how do I act upon my oath of divorce?
The answer: This requires going to the court regarding what your father said, and regarding advising your father, and regarding her divorce and renewing the marriage contract with her if she is repentant. This is a matter that concerns the court. However, regarding your own divorce, there is a point to consider. If you intended by this to urge your father to divorce her, and you did not intend to effect the divorce, but rather you intended to urge him to divorce her and resolve to do so, and otherwise you did not intend to effect the divorce upon her, then you owe the expiation for the oath, and the divorce does not take place.
But if you intended to effect the divorce along with urging your father to separate, then one divorce takes place upon her by that. You should take her back immediately by having two trustworthy, righteous Muslim men witness it, and that is sufficient, provided you had not divorced her twice before this. In that case, this divorce is a revocable divorce, and you may take her back immediately if you intended to effect the divorce. May Allah help us. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you.