Fatwa ID: 04310

Answered by: Maulana Nabil Khan

Question:

Is signing the three divorces without seeing hearing knowing or saying verbally valid or not?

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم

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

Answer:

Talaq is known as the primary method of divorce in an Islamic Marriage. With that being said Talaq is the right of the husband in marriage to sever the marriage and can only be issued by way of the husband. There are other methods for women to receive a divorce, annul or sever the marriage other than Talaq such as Khul’a or Faskh. However, Talaq is one of the methods of divorce which is solely in the hands-on Husband. Talaq can be divided into two occurrences; clearly mentioned divorce or indicated by way of an unclear statement. In the case of clear mention, the Talaq will occur as the husband had stated whether by statement or writing. Yet in the case of the Talaq being indicated or vaguely mentioned resulting in the statement possibly interpreted differently, it will occur based on the intention of the husband and nor merely on assumption, rather clarity must be sought to confirm the ruling.

Specifically, when Talaq is given by way of writing there are some different aspects that need to be taken into consideration. First in the Talaq is clearly written by the husband with the words of talaq then it will be considered as Talaq i.e “I divorce you”. Secondly, in the case the words are unclear or ambiguous words are chosen that could allude to Talaq, i.e “Go back to your parents' home, ”but not definitively understood then this will be decided based on the intention of the Husband.

Therefore in such a case as mentioned above, when the husband was to sign a document that mentioned 3 divorces, yet he did not know, see, hear, or verbally acknowledge any of the content documented then this divorce will not take place unless the husband, when questioned confirms the divorce. It is important to understand that in such a case the content in the document was not written by the husband thus, not resulting in a Talaq from the husband unless duly intended. Such a case can be likened to a blind man who was told to sign something he did not know, read, or understand, and could easily be misled. Especially in the case of writing the ambiguity will result in a lack of definite Talaq and will only be considered if clearly intended by the Husband.

Reference:

Al-Bada’i Al-Sana’i: Volume 4 pg 239: Darul Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah Bayrut.

Al-Fatawa Al-Hindiyyah: Volume 2 page 414:Darul Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah Bayrut.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Maulana Nabil Khan

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham