Fatwa ID: 02030

Answered by Eunus Ali

Question:

In بهار شريعت, the author has compiled a section on استثناء (exemption), in which he mentions that if a husband utters words of divorce to his wife but then adds to them with the phrase         ان شاء الله or any other phrase which shares the same meaning, then the divorce would not take place. However, he only presents examples of when صريح words are used, and not when كناية words are used. So, the question is this, that if a husband was to issue a divorce using كناية words but then added the exemption of ان شاء الله, would divorce take place or not?
For example he was to say in the urdu language جاو ان شاء الله knowingly adding the exemption to his statement of  جاو.

Answer:

According to Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Muhammad :

When the phrase in shaa Allah is attached to such a statement which will initiate a shari’ ruling to take place, the statement will be rendered void and the shari’ ruling will not take effect.

This is because the phrase in shaa Allah is translated as “if Allah wills,” and it is not possible to come to know what the ‘will’of Allah is for that particular situation, hence the statement will be considered void.

(RaddulMuhtar, Volume 4, Page 631. DarulKutubulIlmiyyah&Alfatawa Al-Hindiyyah, Volume 1, Page 491. DarulKutubulIlmiyyah)

Applying the above mentioned rule in mind, if a divorce is issued using a kinayah word which is then followed by in shaa Allah,the divorce will not take place but rather the statement of divorce will be considered void.

Only Allah Knows Best

Written by Eunus Ali

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed TosirMiah

DarulIfta Birmingham