and one nonetheless pronounces it, then Allah—exalted be He—has obligated him to pay the expiation in the sequence we have outlined. Even if he meant it as a divorce, this wording is an explicit declaration of ẓihār, and what is explicit ẓihār does not count as a divorce; it is treated solely as ẓihār.

Question: Is there any distinction between saying it in anger and saying it calmly?
Answer: There is no difference whatsoever.
***
The statement: “anti ʿalayya ḥarām” (you are forbidden to me)

Question: At the very beginning of my parents’ marriage, a sharp dispute arose between them. My father said to my mother, “You are forbidden to me.” At that time he did not know whether such words constituted an oath or ẓihār, and so he has never offered any expiation. He is now ninety years old, and my mother passed away years ago. What must my father do now?

Answer: If he said to her, “You are forbidden to me,” intending ẓihār, and later returned to her and had marital relations with her, then he must perform the expiation for ẓihār: freeing a slave; if he cannot find one, then fasting two consecutive months; and if he is unable to fast, then feeding sixty needy persons, in that precise order.

When a husband tells his wife, “You are forbidden to me,” the scholars hold differing opinions about its legal effect. The majority maintain that it takes the ruling of an oath and therefore requires the expiation for an oath, while others regard it as ẓihār, obligating the expiation for ẓihār. In all cases, the safer course is for him to discharge the expiation for ẓihār in the order we have mentioned: freeing a slave; if he is unable, then fasting two consecutive months; and if he cannot do so, then feeding sixty