Fatwa ID: 06507

Answered by: Alimah Zakiratul Hoque

Question:

A person is absolutely normal. However, on some days he is continuously thinking about divorce and its scenarios in his head.

During these specific days, he thinks of divorce while talking, eating, sleeping etc. However, one thing is clear he never uttered the words of divorce or its kinayah words with the intention of divorce or has never written these words. During those days a few things happened to this person. Please answer.

The person was drinking water and he thought in his head if I take one more sip then my wife is divorced or I have divorced my wife. while he was carried away in this thought he took one more sip of water. does divorce happen? while he never uttered the words or statements orally. Moreover, what will be the case if the person intended to divorce (in mind) while taking the next sip of water after thinking this in his mind? will this count as divorce?

Similarly, the same person is walking and suddenly he thinks if he takes one more step then his wife is divorced and while carried away with this thought he takes another step. and what is the ruling if he also intended divorce with the next step he took.
similarly, the person was talking to his friend and suddenly he thought the same in his mind that if he said the same thing to his friend his wife will be divorced and suddenly he again spoke to his friend saying ”you are a very good person fahad”. does this count as divorce? even if he said these with the intention of divorcing his wife?

The same happened when he was doing zikr. and while carried away in the thoughts he uttered ” la illaha illa llah” so does divorce count? even if he intended divorce but said Subhanallah or la ilaha illallah with tongue does it causes divorce?

Similarly, if this person sees any moving object for example car or someone moving his hand the same thought comes to mind if the car moves further or the person moves hands again his wife is divorced. and the car moves and the person moves his hand again. does this cause his divorce? even if he intended divorce with the movement of the car or the hand of another person in this mind?

Lastly, this person was talking with his wife and sent an emoji on WhatsApp which was a cartoon firing bullets. After sending the said emoji this person in their head thought of saying divorce with every bullet the emoji fired. The thought came after the person had sent the emoji. does this count as divorce? Let’s suppose the person also intended to give divorce with the emoji firing bullets will it count as divorce? while the person never uttered divorce orally or in writing.

Now, what should that person do? He is preoccupied with such thoughts. is his wife divorced? if yes how many times? as the person does not remember how many times it was simple thoughts and how many times he really intended divorce with the thought. the only thing he is sure about is that he never uttered the words of divorce orally and has never written them. Please guide. thank you.

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

Answer:

For a divorce to occur through Kinaayah (implicit) phrases, the phrases must have some indication of breaking ties. In the examples you mentioned, no such thing occurred. Therefore, they could not be considered as a means of giving divorce (Badai Al Sanai, Vol 4, Pg 264).

Also, the words of divorce must be spoken or written for divorce to occur. That has also not happened in your example. Therefore, no divorce occurred in any of the above situations.

فركن الطلاق و هو اللفظ الذي جعل دلالة علي معنى الطلاق لغة و هو التخلية و الإرسال و رفع القيد في الصريح و قطع الوصلة و نحوه في الكناية

Only Allah knows best.

Written by Alimah Zakiratul Hoque

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham