The ruling on divorce by writing if no one is aware of it
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Question:
This is a question from the listener Ali ibn Ali al-Yamani, residing in Yanbu. He says: I am a man married to a woman who is disobedient to my commands; she does not obey me in anything, and she constantly leaves the house without my permission, in addition to committing some actions that angered me. This made me think about divorcing her. In fact, I wrote a paper in which I divorced her twice, naming her and her father. I was alone in the house at that time, with no one else present. However, I tore up the paper afterward, and no one knew what happened, nor did she. This was about five months ago. Does this divorce take effect or not?
Answer:
Yes, two divorces take effect on her. If you divorced her by writing or by speech, even if she did not know, and even if there were no witnesses, the divorce takes effect. However, you still have one divorce remaining, provided you had not divorced her before this; in that case, you have one remaining. You have the right to take her back, and you have the right to contract a new marriage with her if she has completed her waiting period.
The point is: you have one divorce remaining, if you, the questioner, had not divorced her before this written divorce.
The presenter: He says that five months have passed since the time of writing. Has she not completed her waiting period?
The Shaykh: Yes, it is most likely that she has completed her waiting period, meaning by menstruation, or by months if it was by months. Unless she was pregnant and has not given birth, in which case she is still in her waiting period. But if you had intercourse with her with the intention of taking her back, she became a wife who can be taken back by the intercourse that occurred before she completed her waiting period. If, for example, you returned to the house and had intercourse with her after the two divorces, intending to take her back, the taking back is complete, if this was before three menstrual cycles had passed for her. Yes.
The presenter: But regarding the time he wrote the divorce paper, if for example she was in a state of purity in which he had intercourse with her.
The Shaykh: The correct view is that if she was in a state of purity in which he had intercourse with her, or in menstruation, the divorce does not take effect, according to the correct view. This is the opinion of a group of scholars, contrary to the opinion of the majority. Yes.
This is a question from the listener Ali ibn Ali al-Yamani, residing in Yanbu. He says: I am a man married to a woman who is disobedient to my commands; she does not obey me in anything, and she constantly leaves the house without my permission, in addition to committing some actions that angered me. This made me think about divorcing her. In fact, I wrote a paper in which I divorced her twice, naming her and her father. I was alone in the house at that time, with no one else present. However, I tore up the paper afterward, and no one knew what happened, nor did she. This was about five months ago. Does this divorce take effect or not?
Answer:
Yes, two divorces take effect on her. If you divorced her by writing or by speech, even if she did not know, and even if there were no witnesses, the divorce takes effect. However, you still have one divorce remaining, provided you had not divorced her before this; in that case, you have one remaining. You have the right to take her back, and you have the right to contract a new marriage with her if she has completed her waiting period.
The point is: you have one divorce remaining, if you, the questioner, had not divorced her before this written divorce.
The presenter: He says that five months have passed since the time of writing. Has she not completed her waiting period?
The Shaykh: Yes, it is most likely that she has completed her waiting period, meaning by menstruation, or by months if it was by months. Unless she was pregnant and has not given birth, in which case she is still in her waiting period. But if you had intercourse with her with the intention of taking her back, she became a wife who can be taken back by the intercourse that occurred before she completed her waiting period. If, for example, you returned to the house and had intercourse with her after the two divorces, intending to take her back, the taking back is complete, if this was before three menstrual cycles had passed for her. Yes.
The presenter: But regarding the time he wrote the divorce paper, if for example she was in a state of purity in which he had intercourse with her.
The Shaykh: The correct view is that if she was in a state of purity in which he had intercourse with her, or in menstruation, the divorce does not take effect, according to the correct view. This is the opinion of a group of scholars, contrary to the opinion of the majority. Yes.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.