Fatwa ID: 04134

Answered by: Maulana Muhammad Asadullah Anwar Adam

Question:

Asalamualaikum,

If someone asks a man "Is she your girlfriend."  And he lies and answers,

"yeah, she is my girlfriend", and does not tell him that the woman is his wife. Does the lie constitute divorce?

Can you give an answer according to Sunni Hanafi Fiqh?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم​

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

Waalaikumuusalaam,

"The words that cause a divorce may be clear or ambiguous. Clear words cause the divorce whether one intends divorce or not, while ambiguous words do not cause it unless there is a clear intention of divorce or a clear proof it was for divorce" [1]

Saying she is his girlfriend does not constitute divorce unless he intended for it too because it does not fall under what a person would clearly recognize as being said to cause a divorce.

That said, lying is a sin. As such try to avoid it and make tawbah for it

[1][Quduri page 602-603, Maktab Al Bushra print]

Only Allah knows best

Written by Maulana Muhammad Asadullah Anwar Adam

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham