if a married brother for the purpose of seeking ilm(he wanted to know what phrases would, if said to one’s wfe would cause her to be divorced), lies to a scholar, where he said to the scholar, that he said this and he said that(for example, he told the scholar, he said divorce to his wife), would that count as divorce? …I mean, if he actually said it to his wife, it would count, but because he is telling this to a shaykh, and it never really happenned, would it count?….because I heard divorce would take place, if a husband says it in present or past tense, in this case, although,in this case, it would be past tense, he is simply imforming him of something, that never took place..but he lied to the shaykh, saying that it did take place, and that he said this, and he said that…so would that count?
In principle, if a person did not divorce his wife and he spoke a lie to the Shaykh that he divorced his wife, then such a statement does not constitute divorce if the husband did not intend issuing divorce to his wife with that statement to the Shaykh.
and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai