Fatwa ID: 07928

Answered by: Alimah Maryam Badshah

Question:

I uttered words of divorce to my wife without me knowing what I was saying. I realised what I had said afterwards. We were in bed and it just came out my mouth without me wanting to or even having the intention of saying it. I possibly wanted to say something else at that time. We were having a normal conversation. She was saying she wanted to go to the hospital but was not open yet and I replied in Somali ”waa furantahay 9 o’clock “which in English means ‘you are open at  9 o’clock” but can be translated in English as ‘you are divorced at 9 o’clock what I wanted to say was the hospital should be open at 9 o’clock but I said it the wrong way. Is this classed as divorce brother? Jazakallahu Khair.

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

Answer:

Words of divorce are of two types: clear/explicit (Ṣariḥ) and ambiguous (Kināyah). Your statement in the Somali language would be considered ambiguous due to the fact that the word has multiple different meanings (homonym). You would therefore need to look at your intention at the time and the context of the situation. Since you were simply talking with your wife without such intent, this would not be classed as divorce (Ṭalāq).

Only Allah knows best

Written by Alimah Maryam Badshah

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

(الْفَصْلُ الْخَامِسُ فِي الْكِنَايَاتِ) لَا يَقَعُ بِهَا الطَّلَاقُ إلَّا بِالنِّيَّةِ أَوْ بِدَلَالَةِ حَالٍ

Al-Fatāwa al-Hindiyyah (Vol.1, pg.374, Dār Al-Fiqr)

(كِنَايَتُهُ) عِنْدَ الْفُقَهَاءِ (مَا لَمْ يُوضَعْ لَهُ) أَيْ الطَّلَاقِ (وَاحْتَمَلَهُ) وَغَيْرَهُ (فَ) الْكِنَايَاتُ (لَا تَطْلُقُ بِهَا) قَضَاءً (إلَّا بِنِيَّةٍ أَوْ دَلَالَةِ الْحَالِ) وَهِيَ حَالَةُ مُذَاكَرَةِ الطَّلَاقِ أَوْ الْغَضَبِ،

Raddul Muhtār (Vol.3, pg.296-7, Dār Al-Fiqr)