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Fatwa CenterMarriage of man who says to wife ‘You are Allah’
Question
I am very embarrassed about this, but I need help. I married my wife last year, and at the beginning of this year, a few things happened, and I do not know what to do:
1. In January, I said some really bad things, which may amount to Kufr (disbelief), to my wife, I basically said that, for me, she is Allah, and I prostrated to her. Did this break my marriage, and does my marriage need to be renewed at this point?
2. On February 2, we got into an argument, and I said, "Talaaq (divorce), Talaaq, Talaaq," to her, did this divorce count?
3. On February 11, I repented and asked Allah for forgiveness for the Kufr that I had committed in January and renewed my testimony of faith.
We want to live together but have no idea where we stand, can you please clarify this for us? It would mean a lot. Also, we follow the Hanafi school of thought.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The hideous thing that you did by saying to your wife what you said and prostrating to her are acts of Kufr that take the doer out of the fold of Islam.
The most likely correct view adopted at Islamweb is that the marriage of the apostate is suspended until the ʻIddah (post-divorce waiting period) of his wife expires; if he repents to Allah before the ʻIddah ends, the marriage bond is intact and there is no need to renew the marriage contract. However, if the ʻIddah expires before his repentance, the marriage is annulled (automatically terminated). For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 90497.
The divorce issued by the apostate does not take effect unless he repents before the ʻIddah expires. The Hanbali scholar Ar-Ruhaybaani 
said, "The divorce issued by the apostate after the consummation of marriage is suspended; if he embraces Islam again during the ʻIddah, divorce takes effect. If he does not embrace Islam until the ʻIddah expires or apostatized before the consummation of marriage, the divorce is invalid." [Mataalib Uli An-Nuha fi Sharh Ghaayat Al-Muntaha, 5/321]
It should be noted that when a husband uses the wording of divorce mentioned in the question (Talaaq, Talaaq, Talaaq) without using a pronoun referring to his wife in particular, the most likely correct view is that it is considered a metaphor of divorce, not an explicit divorce, so divorce does not take effect except if the husband had the intention to issue a divorce when he said it. If you intended to issue one divorce while saying these words, one occurrence of divorce takes place, and if you intended issuing three divorces, they take effect and your wife becomes irrevocably divorced. Please, refer to fatwa 94110.
Hence, if the ʻIddah expired before your repentance, your marriage bond has been automatically terminated and the divorce has not taken effect. If you wish to take her back in marriage, you must conduct a new marriage contract.
However, if you repented before the ʻIddah expired, there is no need for conducting a new marriage contract unless you intended to issue a triple divorce then. In this case, your wife would be irrevocably divorced from you and becomes unlawful for you unless she marries another man with a true marriage (not a Tahleel marriage for the sole purpose of legalizing remarrying her ex-husband) and he consummates the marriage with her and then he divorces her or dies and her ʻIddah expires. For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 82541.
Allah knows best.
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