pure,” but through a slip of the tongue he said, “You are divorced,” then the divorce does not take effect, for the validity of a divorce depends on uttering its wording intentionally and for the purpose it denotes.
4 – As for someone coerced without right, his divorce is invalid.
Ibn al-Qayyim explained: Although the man has pronounced the wording that normally produces the ruling, the ruling is not applied to him because he did not mean it; his only aim was to ward off harm from himself. Since the intention and will that give the wording its legal force are absent, the ruling is likewise nullified.
5 – By contrast, if the coercion is lawful, the divorce does take effect. An example is the husband who has taken an oath of abstinence (mūlī). If four months elapse and he still refuses to resume marital relations, the judge may compel him to pronounce divorce, and it will be effective because that is coercion with just cause.
6 – Hadith no. 936 is proof that, in the Hereafter, punitive rulings are lifted from the community of Muhammad ﷺ when an act stems from error, forgetfulness, or coercion.
7 – According to the majority of scholars—including the three imams Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad—a divorce issued in error or under coercion does not take effect, whereas Abū Ḥanīfah holds that it does.
8 – Conversely, the implicit meaning of the ḥadith is that if a person deliberately states a legal ruling—such as uttering or writing a declaration of divorce—it becomes binding upon him, and he is not excused thereafter.