Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

assalam walaikum dear brothers in islam.

QUESTION :

I IN ANGER TOLD MY WIFE THAT IF YOU NOT OBEY MY WORDS AND MAKE A

CALL TO MY MOTHER I WILL LEAVE YOU FROM MY LIFE,IS IT MEANS THAT I TOLD HER TALAAQ ?

E&OE.

ALLAH HAFIJ

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Hanging Talaq

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His  forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

The ‘talaaq muallig’ (conditional or ‘hanging’ divorce) will be considered a divorce in Shariah if one of the below two stipulations were met:

If you specifically told your wife, “If you make a call to my mother, it will be a ‘talaaq’”; and subsequently your wife made a call to your mother, it will be considered as giving one ‘talaaq’ in Shariah.

If you told your wife like you have written, “IF YOU NOT OBEY MY WORDS AND MAKE A CALL TO MY MOTHER I WILL LEAVE YOU FROM MY LIFE”, and your intention was divorce if she did such a thing; then it will indeed be considered as one ‘talaaq’ in Shariah if your wife ever makes a call to your mother! This is known as ‘Qinnaya’ or connotation in Islam and it all depends on the intention of the person declaring the ‘Qinnaya’; if his intention was to give divorce, then it will be considered as one divorce. If his intention was not to give a divorce, then it will not be considered a divorce.

If you did specifically declare talaaq, or if your intention was indeed ‘talaaq’ in your Qinnaya, then it will be considered as one divorce in Shariah. And you have the right to take back your wife and cancel that divorce in two ways:

Accept her back in your life before her three monthly periods have passed, with the intention of remaining married to her.

Have conjugal relationship with her before her three monthly courses have passed.

If your intention was indeed divorce in your declaration, and subsequently you take your wife back; it will be considered that you have used up one of your three divorce rights of announcement in Shariah. Now you have a balance of two divorce announcements.

Allah Subhanah has given man the right to announce divorce on his wife twice and take her back before the expiration of her three monthly periods. If after that, he pronounces a third divorce, then it will considered irrevocable.

We have written an answer on ‘divorce’ in Shariah, which we are attaching from the archive for your reference.

The believing man should at all times fear Allah Subhanah, and be extremely careful when in anger or otherwise in pronouncing ‘talaaq’ or divorce. This simple term of ‘talaaq’ when pronounced has extreme severe repercussions in Shariah!

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan