Search In Fatwa

Uttering Divorce without Referring It To The Wife

Question

Assalamoalaykum
I’ve read from Sayyid Sabiq and Wahbah Zuhaily that it’s obligatory to refering the object (wife) in the wording of talaq, such as: “ANTI taaliq”, “YOU are divorced”, “i divorce YOU”, “(WIFE’S NAME) divorced”, etc.
But, some imam and ustaadh said that only saying “talaq” or “divorce” without “you are” is sufficient (explicit talaq that doesn’t need intention). And some said it will be explicit when the wording including the pronoun (that refered to the wife) followed with mashdar, such as: “anti taalaq”, or “you are divorce”.
In this website you once said that “talaaq” only is explicit wording, but the other time you said it’s implicit wording which needs intention. Please give me your guidance.
Jazaakallahu khairan.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad,  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

As you mentioned in the question, there is a real difference of opinion among the jurists regarding the ruling on the utterance of divorce without referring it to the wife. Some of them considered it as an explicit word of divorce, and some of them considered it as a metaphor of divorce that does not take effect unless the husband had intended it.

The view that we adopt here at Islamweb is the second view, because if the husband does not refer divorce to the wife, his words can have a different meaning, whereas explicit words (of divorce) have only one meaning.

Allah knows best.

Related Fatwa