His Wife Took an Oath That their Marriage Would End If She Was a Liar

22-11-2025 | IslamWeb

Question:

I told my wife to swear on the sacredness of our nikah that she was telling the truth and if she takes a false oath then our nikah is over ( no use of the word talak). I had no intention of divorce but for her to add it into her oath (I swear i am telling the truth and if i lie may our nikah end), i also made it clear when she took the initial oath i immediately asked her to add the later (nikah end) clause to her oath as well. Does this count as a conditional divorce or part of her oath !?

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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, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The question is unclear; therefore, we advise you to directly speak to one of the scholars.

In any case, if what is meant is that the wife was the one who swore an oath and made divorce conditional upon her lack of truthfulness, then the divorce does not take effect under any circumstance, because the basic ruling regarding divorce is that it (i.e., the right to issue divorce) is in the man's hand not in the wife's. For this reason, the Qur’an addresses men, not women, in matters of divorce.

We advise resolving marital problems through dialogue between spouses and avoiding the use of such expressions.

This situation seems closer to obsessive thoughts (waswasah); therefore, you should be cautious of them and not give in to them, as they can destroy a person and turn his life into unbearable misery.

Allah knows best.