Is it considered a divorce if the wife returns to her family's house more than once to tend to the chickens—because they called her and told her the chickens would die—despite the husband forbidding her from returning and telling her: "If you do anything other than what I told you, then consider yourself divorced"?

We previously mentioned that the statement "Consider yourself divorced" is a kinayah (allusion), and divorce does not occur by it unless there is intent. However, some scholars, including Sheikh Ibn Baz, consider it an explicit utterance by which divorce occurs.

If you made your wife's divorce conditional upon her doing something you forbade her from, such as going home before the week ends, then the fatwa accepted by us is that divorce occurs, whether you intended for it to happen or you intended to prevent her. This is the view of the majority of scholars. If divorce occurs and it is not the third divorce (i.e., it's the first or second), you can take your wife back (revoke the divorce) before her iddah (waiting period) expires.

Some scholars, like Ibn Taymiyyah, hold the view that divorce does not occur and an expiation for a broken oath (kaffarat yameen) is obligatory if the conditional statement was intended for prevention and threat, not for divorce.

As for the wife's action upon which the divorce was conditioned, due to her ignorance, some scholars hold that if the wife performs the conditioned action while interpreting it in a way that avoids breaking the condition, then the husband does not break his oath.

Given that this issue involves details and differences of opinion among scholars, we advise presenting it to a Sharia court or to trusted scholars in your country.