valid. This is the correct view, and it was the position chosen by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim in his book Relief for the Distressed Regarding the Divorce of the Angry Man, in which he mentioned twenty-six arguments indicating that such a divorce does not take effect.

Thus, in theory, the preponderant view is that divorce pronounced in anger does not take effect. But in practice and as a matter of discipline, should we issue fatwas accordingly, or should we refrain from doing so except in particular cases where we know the husband to be truthful? The latter. For if we were to state without qualification that divorce pronounced in anger does not take effect, many people would say, “I became angry and divorced my wife,” while failing to distinguish between the first level and the second; this would open the door to manipulation. Therefore, issuing unrestricted fatwas that the divorce of an angry man does not take effect would lead people to resort repeatedly to divorce.

If one sees that the husband is an upright man who could not possibly treat the matter lightly, then it is appropriate to issue a fatwa that the divorce does not take effect. But if one sees that he is careless and merely wants his wife to return to him by any means, then he should be given a fatwa that the divorce has taken effect. This falls under the proper governance of people, and such policy holds great importance in Islamic law, even in tangible worldly matters. A certain man may be prevented from eating a particular food, although it is lawful, because it harms him, whereas another is not prevented because it does not harm him.

Among the forms of constraint are those experienced by people afflicted with obsessive misgivings. Such a person is so overcome that he may pronounce divorce without intending it. Some of them—even though we ask Allah for well-being—say: “When I open a book, it is as though I am saying, ‘My wife is divorced’; when I raise a morsel to my mouth, it is as though I am saying, ‘My wife is divorced.’” Everything makes him think that his wife is divorced. There is no doubt that his divorce does not take effect, even if