Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
My husband left home and is no longer supporting me. He has been intending to divorce me since six months ago, but he has not begun issuing the official papers yet. I believe that we can save our marriage, but he doesn’t think so. What should I do (considering that we do not have any children)?
As long as he has not pronounced one of the expressions of divorce, your marriage contract remains as it is, and you have not been separated, because divorce does not take place with mere intention without words that indicate it. If he has pronounced the divorce, then the separation has already taken place, even if he has not issued official papers, because that is not a condition for the validity of divorce. That is only a legal action to prove that the divorce has taken place and to put down in writing the number of times it occurred.
As for the matter of your expenditures, it is obligatory on him to spend on you, as long as you remain his wife. Similarly, [it is also obligatory for him to spend on you] if he gives you a revocable divorce (i.e., fewer than three pronouncements of divorce that occur after consummating the marriage and without any compensatory payment from the wife).
Also, he must spend on you if he divorced you while pregnant, until you give birth. However, if he gave you an irrevocable divorce, such as a threefold divorce, or a divorce that is a release for compensation from the wife, then he does not have to spend on you.
Whenever it is obligatory for him to spend on you and he refrains from doing so even though he is able to, then you may take the matter to a judge, who can compel him to do it. But if he is too poor to spend on you, then you are allowed to request a judge to annul the marriage.
الجواب : طالما لم يتلفظ الزوجُ بلفظ من ألفاظ الطلاق فعقدُ الزواجِ باقٍ على حاله فلم تقع بينكما فرقة ؛ لأن الطلاقَ لا يقع بالنية فقط من غير لفظ يدلُّ عليه . أما إن كان قد تلفظ الزوجُ بالطلاق فقد وقعت الفرقة بينكما وإن لم يُقدِّم ذلك بأوراقٍ رسمية ، فليس ذلك من شرط صحة الطلاق وإنما هو إجراء قانوني لإثبات واقعة الطلاق وضبط عدده .
أما بخصوص نفقتِكِ فهي واجبةٌ على الزوج ما دُمتِ في عصمته ، وكذلك إن طلقكِ طلاقاً رجعياً وهو الطلاق الواقع بعد الدخول وكان دون ثلاث طلقات وبدون عوض ( أي : مقابل ) ، وكذلك تجب لك النفقة إن طلقك وأنت حاملٌ حتى تضعي حملك ، أما إن طلقك طلاقاً بائناً وهو ما كان بثلاث تطليقات أو بطلقة لكن بعوض فلا نفقةَ لك عليه .
وحيثُ قلنا بوجوب نفقتك عى الزوج ؛ فإن امتنع من أدائها وهو قادرٌ عليها فلكِ رفعُ الأمر للقاضي فيلزمه بها ، أما إن كان معسراً بالنفقة فلكِ طلبُ فسخ النكاح عند القاضي .