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Fatwa CenterRuling on signing divorce document without knowing its content
Question
What is the Islamic ruling on a husband who signs a divorce document without knowledge of its contents? Is his wife considered a divorcee given that the husband refuses to divorce her?
May Allaah The Exalted Reward you all the best.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
There are two types of divorce; outright divorce that does not lack the intention of the divorce i.e. the explicit words of divorce such as: ‘I divorce you’, ‘you are divorced’, and the like; and there is the implicit divorce that lacks the intention of divorce; such a divorce is not effective unless there is an intention, such as saying: ‘go to your family’ and the like.
The majority of Muslim Jurists have agreed that the implicit divorce becomes effective only with the husband’s intention, and signing the divorce documents can be classified as an implicit divorce.
Accordingly, the husband's signing of the divorce papers does not count as a divorce as long as the husband did not intend to divorce his wife at that time. This is the case if the husband knew that he was signing divorce documents.
But if the husband did not know of the content of these papers, then it is not regarded as a divorce, neither an explicit nor an implicit one; since the condition of divorce is uttering the words of divorce while intending to divorce one’s wife.
If the husband uttered the words of divorce unintentionally or intended another meaning, it is not considered a divorce; and the same rule applies to a written divorce and to signing divorce documents without the knowledge of their content. Hence, divorce is not effective as a result of such signature.
Allaah Knows best.
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