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Fatwa CenterHer Muslim husband divorced her because she cannot have children
Question
I am a christian woman married to a muslim man. we have been married for 7 years. He pronounced a third talaq upon me because he wants children now, even tho when we were married i told him i could not have any and he accepted. The first two talaq were in the past four or five years when he was angry with me. As a christian, am I bound by this decree, seeing as I did not know or understand the meaning or severity of his words? To my mind, almost everyone says 'i will divorce you!' when they are mad at some point. I never knew that at some point he would say it and then force me to accept that we are legally divorced in the eyes of Islam. I do not believe that God will punish one who is ignorant of a law she does not know by forcing me to accept such a divorce. I love and honor my husband. I live my religion and encourage him to live his, even tho there are many things he does not do. He is a strong believer however and I respect that. My question is, am I bound to this talaq, even in my ignorance of the law? Your answer will be much appreciated.
Shukran
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
In Islam divorce is in the hands of the husband and if he initiates it, it becomes effective. The fact that the wife does not know the seriousness of divorce does not prevent it from taking place.
As regards some of these divorces being in a state of anger, then not every anger prevents divorce from taking place because some types of anger prevent divorce from taking place [becoming effective], and some types do not prevent it from taking place. Indeed, we mentioned cases of divorce given in anger in Fatwa 121374, so please refer to it. In fact, it is the husband who can determine in which type of anger he was (when he initiated divorce).
However, if we presume that divorce took place three times, then in this case you became forbidden for your husband and you will not become lawful for him until you marry another husband [a true marriage and that husband consummates the marriage with you and then he divorces you or dies].
For more benefit on the kinds of divorce, please refer to Fatwa 82541.
On the other hand, if you informed your husband that you cannot have children and divorce took place because of this, then it was more appropriate for him to keep you as his wife and marry a second wife because of his need for children, and there is no doubt that he is religiously permitted and has the right to do so. Then, if we presume that there is no way for you to return to him, then you should look for another husband; there are many suitable men to marry.
On this occasion, we invite you to embrace Islam because it is the true religion by which Allaah concluded all previous religions and Allaah does not accept any other religion than Islam. For information about the religion of Islam, please refer to Fataawa (plural of Fatwa) 88906, 85234 and 81979.
Also, for more information about some realities on Christianity, please refer to Fataawa 90986 and 85307.
Finally, it should be mentioned that you appear to be of sound mind and rational and we hope that you will follow the truth, may Allaah guide you.
Allaah Knows best.
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