He said to his wife: If you have problems with me I will send you your papers; does this count as divorce (talaaq)?

Question: 151734

Me and my wife gets into argument quiet often…during a big fight having…i asked her if she wants and she has problems with me i can send her papers and she can sign it and send back since i work in dubai…but my intention neither was and never is to do it…it was just general talking…does that construct divorce? can thinking about it makes it happen…because it was only thinking not decided? even though i and her never intend to do it…never used or said those words…can thinking about it in a general way or one of the ways…makes it happen?.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

What you
said to your wife does not count as divorce, for two reasons:

You
did not clearly utter the word of divorce (talaaq). The most that can be
said is that it was a metaphor, and metaphors do not count as divorce unless
they are uttered with the intention of divorce.

Even
if you clearly uttered the word of divorce, it does not count as such,
because it is speaking of something in the future that has not yet happened.
If the husband says to his wife: “If you have problems with me, I can send
you the divorce papers”, this does not count as a divorce unless he actually
sends the divorce papers.

We should
point out with regard to the divorce papers that when they are sent to the
wife, that counts as a divorce, whether the wife signs them or not. It is
not a condition of divorce that the woman gives permission or approves of
it.

We should also
point out that thinking to oneself about divorce or deciding to do it does
not count as anything, so long as the word is not uttered.

For more
information please see the answer to question number
34164.

And Allah knows best.

Source:

Islam Q&A

Was this answer helpful?