Fatwa #277331 July 2014Russia
In a conditional divorce, how can the husband cancel it, remove it or change it?
Question
If the husband put a condition to his wife - if you do not do this and that to a certain day, you're divorced, 3 talaq to you . Can husband cancel this condition, remove it, or move the decisive moment?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh.
In principle, a divorce that is made conditional on a future event will take effect when the condition is found.[1] Thus, if the husband makes 3 divorces conditional on a future event, all three will take effect if the condition is fulfilled.
The husband cannot unilaterally take back or cancel the conditional divorce.
However, it is possible to invalidate the conditional divorce in the following way:
- The husband divorces the wife, e.g. he says: “I have divorced you,” with clear terms or ambiguous intending one divorce.
- Thereafter, the wife will sit through the entire ‘iddah period.
- Thereafter, the condition that was stated in the conditional divorce is fulfilled.
- Then, they remarry.[2]
However, it should be noted that this procedure can only work if the husband and wife mutually agree. The wife cannot be coerced into remarriage.
And Allah Ta‘ālā Knows Best
Zameelur Rahman
Student Darul Iftaa
UK
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
References
- وإذا أضافه إلى شرط وقع عقيب الشرط مثل أن يقول لامرأته: إن دخلت الدار فأنت طالق، وهذا بالاتفاق (الهداية، إدارة القرآن والعلوم الإسلامية، ج٣ ص٢٢٨)
- فحيلة من علق الثلاث بدخول الدار أن يطلقها واحدة ثم بعد العدة تدخلها فتنحل اليمين فينكحها (الدر المختار، سعيد،