A man’s tongue slipped and he pronounced divorce, but he did not retract it; it was merely a slip of the tongue. Does it take effect?

The questioner : A quick question came to my mind.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : A man’s tongue slipped and he pronounced divorce, but he did not retract it; it was merely a slip of the tongue.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : That he spoke.

The Shaykh : How did he say it? He said it, he said it, he said it.

The questioner: Yes, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Repeat.

The questioner : A man is speaking to his wife, not intending to divorce her, but his tongue slipped and he divorced her. Is this considered a divorce?

The Shaykh : What did he say to her?

The questioner : He said to her: “Get up, you are divorced.” But he did not want that word to come out of him; he wanted to say something else, but that was in his mind, and it slipped out of his tongue unintentionally.

The Shaykh : I mean, was he in a state of anger, or in a state of distraction, or how did this word come out of him?

The questioner : He was in a state of distraction. He wanted to urge his wife to obey him; he did not want to divorce her. He wanted to say to her, “Get up and dress so you can travel to the country,” but he said to her, “Get up, you are divorced.” Then he immediately realized he had made a mistake. He did not intend to say the word at all; his tongue merely slipped. He had previously divorced his wife twice, and this is the third time.

The Shaykh : Okay, were the first two divorces counted against him?

The questioner : By Allah, Shaykh, he consulted me on this issue. He said, “I divorced her the first time with a hundred divorces, and the second time with a hundred divorces, in different gatherings and at different times.” So I told him that it is considered two times: the first time, the hundred divorces count as one, and the second time counts as one. After he took her back the first time, he divorced her a second time with the same phrase, saying to her, “Get up, you are divorced a hundred times.”

The Shaykh : The important thing.

The questioner : This third one occurred from him.

The Shaykh : The point is, my brother, were the first and second divorces counted against him? Were they recorded against him, or what?

The questioner : They were recorded against him, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : My brother, after he cohabited with his wife, did he cohabit with her on the basis that she was suspended on a third divorce, or on the basis of no divorce at all?

The questioner : No, on the basis that he had divorced her twice.

The Shaykh : I am telling you, then they were counted against him.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So he now has this divorce that you are talking about.

The questioner : Yes, yes.

The Shaykh : It is well known from his saying (peace and blessings be upon him), which is a principle of Islam: . So if a man utters the word of divorce but does not intend divorce, and he is distracted as I said, or inattentive, we do not consider it a divorce. This is different from if he intended the divorce, and his divorce was explicit and he was in a state of remembrance, and then he regretted it; in that case, the sword precedes the excuse. But in this case, we do not consider it a divorce.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, Shaykh. Praise be to Allah, that is how it was, praise be to Allah.

The Shaykh : Good, if Allah wills.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, Shaykh. Pray to Allah for us.

The Shaykh : Welcome, may you be successful if Allah wills, and peace be upon you. Oh Allah, Oh the Generous.