938 – ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated: “When Ibnat al-Jawn was brought before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and he approached her, she said, ‘I seek refuge in Allah from you.’ He replied, ‘You have sought the protection of the All-Great; go back to your family.’ ” Al-Bukhārī recorded it. (1)

Lessons extracted from the ḥadīth

1. The Prophet ﷺ married ʿAmrah bint al-Jawn. When he came near her, she—acting on her own judgement—said, “I seek refuge in Allah from you.” He had already said, “Whoever seeks Allah’s protection from you, grant him protection,” so he granted her that protection and said, “You have sought the protection of the All-Great; go back to your family.”

2. The report proves that the phrase al-ḥaqī bi-ahliki (go back to your family) constitutes a divorce, even though neither the word “divorce” nor any of its derivatives is used.

3. The expression al-ḥaqī bi-ahliki is one of the subtle implicit formulas of divorce. According to the well-known view in the Ḥanbalī school, an implicit formula effects divorce only when accompanied by the husband’s intention at the very moment of utterance, or when spoken in anger, during a dispute, or in response to the wife’s request for divorce. Absent that intention or those surrounding circumstances, an implicit statement does not bring about divorce.

4. Divorce formulas are of two kinds: explicit and implicit. Explicit formulas are the word “divorce” (ṭalāq) itself and all of its morphological derivatives; they effect divorce whether the speaker is serious or joking, even without a specific intention.

5. Implicit formulas are divided into overt and subtle. The overt include such statements as “You are free,” “released,” “separated,” “disconnected,” “decisively severed,” “permanently severed,” or “Marry whom you wish,” and so forth.