Fatwa ID: 05914
Answered by: Shaykh Shafiur Rahman
Question:
If someone asks a man Is she your girlfriend. And he lies and answers that “yeah SHE IS my girlfriend” and does not tell him that THE WOMAN IS his wife. Will the lie constitute divorce?
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
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…”1 This will also be the case if it was sent in clear unambiguous writing or by text message
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.2 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, in this case, if the man had no intention of divorce by referring to his wife as his girlfriend no divorce has taken place.
Only Allah knows best
Written by Shaykh Shafiur Rahman
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
1 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
2 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
