Question
If you divorce your wife out of anger or u were angry at the time and divorced her does this mean it’s not counted as a real divorce and will you have to say it again in a normal manner not out of anger and if so is there a Hadith about this?
Answer
Divorce is such an unpleasant thing that comes into effect whether mentioned in seriousness or in jest, as can
be seen from this hadith:
Three things are serious when done in seriousness and serious and also when done in jest: marriage, divorce and retracting a revocable divorce.
(Abu-Dawood, Vol.1, Pg. 298)
It should be understood that a person doesn’t usually divorce his wife except in anger. It is very rare, if not inexistent, that a person would divorce his wife out of sheer joy. Thus, it can be deduced from this that jest, as well as anger, will not be a mitigating factor in divorce. The following texts elucidate this quite clearly:
Talaaq (divorce) done in anger takes place according to majority of Ulamaa
(Awnul-Ma’bood, Sharah of
Sunan Abu Dawood, Vol.2, Pg. 224/5)
Mujaahid Rahimahullah narrates from Abdullah ibn Abbaas Radiallu Anhu that a man once said to him; “Verily I have divorced
my wife thrice in a fit of rage”, so he (Ibn Abbas) replied, “Ibn Abbas cannot make permissible for you that
which Allah has made impermissible upon you. You have disobeyed your Sustainer and you have made your
wife haraam upon you.”
(Jaamiul Uloom wal Hikam – Hadeeth No. 16, Vol. 1, Pg. 422-Darus Salaam)
We conclude that, in light of what has been cited above, it will not be necessary to repeat the divorce in a normal manner since the divorce that was done in anger has already taken place.
Checked and Approved By:
Mufti Muhammed Saeed Motara Saheb D.B.