Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

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One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Brother Burhan,

Asalam-Alikum,

Firstly I would like to appreciate you for the work you are doing, and may Allaha bless you with more knowledge.

My question is if a husband tells her wife, if you go to so and so place it will be a divorce. And if even I go to that place still it will be a divorce. And both of them have not gone there. Now if the husband wants to take that word back. Is there any way he can cancel this thing and go there?

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Answer:

The concept of hanging divorce

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 none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

May Allah Subhanah reward you with the best of this world and the Hereafter for your kind comments of encouragement for our humble efforts in the propagation of the Truth. If our humble and modest efforts have helped even one brother or sister get closer to Allah and His Deen of Truth, then we would consider ourselves indeed fortunate to have been given this opportunity by the Lord Most Merciful to serve in His Cause. We hope, beg, and pray the Merciful Lord accepts our humble and weak efforts, forgives us our shortcomings, and saves you, us, and all the believers from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.

A conditional or hanging divorce is what is known in Islamic Jurispurdence as ‘talaq mutallaq’.

A ‘talaq mutallaq’, or hanging, or conditional divorce is when a husband puts a condition to the divorce that if the wife does such and such, or if such and such happens, she is divorced. As long as the condition is not fulfilled, the divorce pronouncement will remain ‘hanging’….and as soon as the condition is fulfilled, a divorce will be established, and one of the three divorce pronouncements of the marriage will be deemed utilized.

Your Question: ….My question is if a husband tells her wife, if you go to so and so place it will be a divorce. And if even I go to that place still it will be a divorce.

If the husband has indeed uttered the condition that if his wife goes to such and such a specific place she is divorced, it would indeed constitute a pronouncement of ‘talaq mutallaq’ or ‘hanging divorce’ in the Sight of Shariah Law….and if the wife indeed goes to that place, a divorce will be deemed established amongst them in their marriage.

Your Question: Now if the husband wants to take that word back.

Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 2189 Narrated by Abu Hurayrah

The Prophet (saws) said: ‘There are three things which, whether undertaken seriously or in jest, are treated as serious: Marriage, divorce and taking back a wife (after a divorce which is not final).’

Marriage and divorce in Islam are absolutely sacrosanct issues….and to preserve the sanctity of the sacred institution of marriage, the Messenger of Allah (saws) made it absolutely clear that absolutely regardless of the reasons or conditions one chooses to marry or to divorce….once one has uttered the words to marry or to divorce, those words cannot be taken back.

Your Question: ….Is there any way he can cancel this thing and go there?

The absolute majority of the scholars and jurists in Islam are of the opinion that one cannot simply cancel one’s acceptance of marriage or pronouncements of divorce.

If the husband has pronounced a ‘hanging divorce’ and declared that his wife is divorced if she goes a specified place….and subsequently the husband changes his mind and wishes to allow or even accompany his wife to go to that place….the one and only lawful way to preserve the marriage is for the wife to abstain from going to that place, or else go to that place and accept one divorce in that marriage.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 229:

229 A divorce is only permissible twice: after that the parties should either hold together on equitable terms or separate with kindness.

As soon as the wife goes to that place ‘specified’ in the hanging divorce, one divorce will be established in their marriage. Because the first two declarations of divorce in any one marriage are revocable in Shariah, at the occurrence of the first divorce, the husband is well within his rights to revoke that divorce and take his wife back…..but he will be deemed to have utilized one of his two revocable divorce rights in his marriage.

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

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan