Husband threatened her with divorce
Fatwa No: 90318

Question

My husband said me I will divorce you if you go to Lahore, I have to go Lahore, before I leave for Lahore at airport he realized and stop saying his words of divorce and he allow me to go, and he don't divorce me. So we are husband and wife by the grace of Allaah.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

 

Divorce does not occur by the saying of a husband to his wife, 'I will divorce you if you do such and such', if she does the act from which he has prevented her because the expression indicates a promise of divorce and a promise of a divorce is not a divorce according to the consensus of the Muslim scholars. So, the marriage contract is still valid and nothing has happened to it.

Contrary to this is the saying of a husband to his wife, 'You are divorced if you do such and such', if she does the act against which he had warned her, the divorce would then occur even if his intention was only to threaten her. This is the opinion of majority of Muslim scholars.

We advise both the husband and wife to fear Allaah and to solve their marital problems wisely and kindly. Giving a divorce or threatening a wife of divorce is not a means to correct a wife, rather it increases her stubbornness which may result in a broken family for a cause that could otherwise be fixed easily with patience and wisdom.

We remind the wife to respect the rights of her husband and she should not go out except with his permission. All the jurists have agreed upon the prohibition of going out without the permission of one's husband except for dire necessities such as when she fears the destruction of the home, or attack of an enemy, or fire, etc. If she goes out without his permission she commits a sin and becomes disobedient and deserves punishment.

For the rights of a husband and wife, please read Fatwas 83157 and 88304.

Allaah Knows best.

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