Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Is it permissible to put in a no-divorce clause in a marriage contract?
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad, his folk, companions, and followers
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
The no-divorce clause would be a promise, not a legally-significant condition.
It is not permitted to make promises unless (a) one has the firm resolve to fulfill the promise and (b) one is reasonably sure that one will, in fact, be able to fulfill it.
A contractual promise such as a no-divorce clause is religiously binding, according to the major living scholars, given that it relates to the interests and rights of another. Thus, it would normally be religiously binding for one to live up to such a contractual promise, except in genuinely extenuating circumstanceswhich one should seek counsel about.
However, a no-divorce clause is not legally-significant in the sense that if a divorce is pronounced after it, then this pronouncement would still count as divorce, with all its legal implications.
This is because there are a number of hadiths from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that affirm clearly that every pronouncement of divorce is effective and countseven if sinful or of a prohibited kind. [As related by Tirmidhi, Ibn Abi Shayba, and others; Bukhari mentions it in his Sahih from the words of Sayyiduna Ali (Allah be pleased with him)]
Thus, divorce pronounced after it would still count, though it would have two reprehensible aspects: (a) breaking one’s promise and (b) pronouncing divorce. However, when there is a genuine reason to divorce then it would not be reprehensible, though one should review one’s case with a reliable scholar before even considering the pronouncement of divorce.
And Allah alone gives success.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani