Fatwa ID: 05475

Answered by: Shaykh Shafiur Rahman

Question:

If the husband says to the wife I am your son in-joke will it be regarded as talaq or zihar according to Sunni fiqh Hanafi?.

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

Answer:

This will not be counted as zihar because in zihar there needs to be a comparison (tasbih) with a woman who is a mahram for it to be counted as zihar.^[1]

There are two main types of statements when it comes to pronouncing divorce, Sarih and Kinaya.

Sarih (explicit/clear) statements of divorce are those expressions said by the husband to the wife that is plain/direct and clear using the word divorce such as ‘I have divorced you’ and ‘you are divorced’ etc.

Ibn Abideen states that “A clear (sarih) statement of divorce is that which is customarily used for divorce in a way that it is not used for anything but divorce…”^[2]

Kinaya (allusive) means using words/expressions that are not exclusively used for issuing divorce, but they allude and hint to it. They can mean divorce as well as something other than divorce.^[3]

However a kinaya word or expression is only counted as a divorce if the husband had clearly intended divorce by it, otherwise, it has no effect.

Therefore is he had no intention of divorce then it will not be counted as such.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Shaykh Shafiur Rahman

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

[1]وَاحْتَرَزَ بِهِ عَنْ نَحْوِ أَنْتِ أُمِّي بِلَا تَشْبِيهٍ فَإِنَّهُ بَاطِلٌ وَإِنْ نَوَى كَمَا سَيَأْتِ

ص466 – كتاب الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين رد المحتار – باب الظهار – المكتبة الشاملة الحديثة

[2]قَوْلُهُ صَرِيحٌ) هُوَ مَا لَا يُسْتَعْمَلُ إلَّا فِي حَلِّ عُقْدَةِ النِّكَاحِ سَوَاءً كَانَ الْوَاقِعُ بِهِ رَجْعِيًّا أَوْ بَائِنًا

ص230 – كتاب الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين رد المحتار – أقسام الطلاق – المكتبة الشاملة الحديثة

[3]قَوْلُهُ وَكِنَايَةٌ) هِيَ مَا لَمْ يُوضَعْ لِلطَّلَاقِ وَاحْتَمَلَهُ وَغَيْرَهُ كَمَا سَيَأْتِي فِي بَابِهِ.

ص230 – كتاب الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين رد المحتار – أقسام الطلاق – المكتبة الشاملة الحديثة