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Does divorce occur if a man tells his wife "you are divorced, you are divorced, you are divorced" while she is speaking to him on the phone?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

There is no difference between a divorce pronounced orally or over the phone. The pronouncement of "you are divorced" (taliq) without attributing it to the wife, but with the intention of divorce, constitutes a divorce unanimously. However, if it is without intention, then there is a difference of opinion among scholars: some consider it among the allusive (kinayat) forms of divorce, which does not take effect except with intention, while others consider it an explicit (sarih) divorce. If the husband intended a single divorce with the three pronouncements, or did not intend a specific number, then only one divorce is binding upon him, and he may take his wife back before the expiry of her 'iddah, as long as she has not completed the three divorces. If he intended three divorces, then according to the majority of scholars, three divorces become binding upon him, and his wife becomes unlawful for him until she marries another husband. The view of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah is that a triple divorce pronounced in a single utterance counts as one divorce.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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