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Unconsummated Marriage and Divorce

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by CouncilofUlama.co.za

Q: My marriage was performed on last Ramadan but my wife is still with her parents and she will move in with me in a month. We have not yet have consummated the marriage. Last night I was talking to her on the mobile phone, an argument arose and she said the word divorce in a sentence. The sentence was like this: “Say if you are lying then I will be divorced” (She had said this unintentionally). Hearing this I got agitated and responded like this: “What is this? Do you think this divorce thing is a joke?” Afterwards I repeated the divorce word thrice as a stereotype/sarcastically/ironically (As people mostly repeat words in sarcasm in our culture) with no intention in my mind whatsoever the whole time of giving divorce to my wife. Furthermore, I never addressed my wife directly as “I divorce you” anytime, I just repeated the “Divorce” word thrice. We both have no damaging differences and are quite satisfied with each other and proudly love each other. Please advise us.


A:There are a few points which should be remembered:

1) Your wife uttering the words of divorce has no significance as the husband has the right of giving a divorce.
2) Whether the words of divorce are uttered seriously or jokingly they will occur.

However in your case, since you have not as yet consumated the nikah, the moment you said the first divorce your wife came out of your nikah. Therefore when you uttered the second and third divorce it was as though you uttered these words to a strange woman. In order for you and your wife to be together again a new nikah has to be performed. Ask a local aalim to perform it in the presence of two witnesses. It is not necessary to perform it in the musjid again. You should now remember that you have used up one of your divorces already.Therefore stay clear of the words of divorce so that you would not regret later.

This answer was collected from CouncilofUlama.co.za, which is operated under the supervision of Council of Ulama Eastern Cape, South Africa.

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