Comprehensive Chapter on Oaths Involving Divorce

1. Whoever swears—invoking divorce or any other form of oath—that he will not do a certain act, then goes on to do it, whether deliberately or out of forgetfulness, has broken his oath. If, however, he is coerced, overpowered, or prevented through no fault of his own, no violation is incurred.

2. Should he say to his wife, “You are divorced unless I later change my mind,” the divorce is binding; the clause “unless I later change my mind” is of no benefit to him.

3. Likewise, if he says, “You are divorced if you do such-and-such, unless I later change my mind about that,” then—provided he intended the proviso to pertain to the act itself, or that Allah might alter what he harbored in his heart concerning it—the exception is recognized.

4. If he declares, “If I do not divorce you, then you are divorced,” she is divorced immediately should he fail to enact a divorce; should he pronounce the divorce, that is sufficient.

5. If he says, “You are divorced if I do not marry another wife besides you,” or “if I do not take a concubine besides you,” and he sets a specific deadline, it is recommended—but not obligatory—for him to refrain from marital relations with her. Another opinion allows him to have intercourse with her, on analogy with the case of a man who tells his wife, “You are divorced if so-and-so does not arrive.” This latter view is the soundest transmission from Malik and is closer to the position of the majority of scholars.

6. Should the deadline expire before he marries another woman, he has broken his oath and the divorce takes effect.

7. If no deadline is set, many of Malik’s associates hold that he may not approach her; instead, a term equivalent to that fixed for īlāʾ (the oath of sexual abstention) is imposed. Another view maintains that he remains perpetually bound by his oath. If he dies before marrying another wife or taking a concubine, the two of them inherit from one another because