Question:

A man has signed divorced paper under the pressure of his father. He was not willing to Divorce his wife. He didn’t even said Divorce a single time. But the Signed divorce paper is Not served or handed-over to the lady.

Kindly suggest that Divorce is implemented or it have No value as the Husband didn’t do it on will? Can they do Ruju or still can live as husband and wife?

Answer:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

Genuinely being forced to do something must consist of the following conditions:

  • Being threatened by someone who has the ability of carrying out the threat
  • The person being threatened must believe with certainty or high probability that the threat would be carried out unless they do what they’re being threatened to do
  • The threat is of life, physical torture, or mental torture

Based on the question, it is unclear what type of pressure the husband was in.  Therefore, in the stated scenario if the husband was genuinely forced to sign the divorce document (based on the criteria mentioned above) and he did not verbally divorce his wife, then the divorce did not occur. His wife would still be in his nikah, and they may continue to live as husband and wife.

However, if the husband was not genuinely forced to sign the divorce document, then the divorce would occur. In this case, the divorce papers would need to be assessed in order to determine how many divorces may have occurred and which type of divorce it maybe. [1]

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Mufti Abdul Haseeb Muhammad
Chatham, ON.
Canada

Checked and Approved by:

Muftī Faisal bin Abdul Hamīd al-Mahmūdī
Darul Iftaa Canada, Edmonton
www.fatwa.ca

 [1]

البحر الرائق، دارالكتاب الاسلامي (3/ 264)
وقيدنا بكونه على النطق لأنه لو أكره على أن يكتب طلاق امرأته فكتب لا تطلق لأن الكتابة أقيمت مقام العبارة باعتبار الحاجة ولا حاجة هنا كذا في الخانية، وفي البزازية أكره على طلاقها فكتب فلانة بنت فلان طالق لم يقع

الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين (رد المحتار) (3/ 236)
 وفي البحر أن المراد الإكراه على التلفظ بالطلاق، فلو أكره على أن يكتب طلاق امرأته فكتب لا تطلق لأن الكتابة أقيمت مقام العبارة باعتبار الحاجة ولا حاجة هنا، كذا في الخانية، ولو أقر بالطلاق كاذبا أو هازلا وقع قضاء لا ديانة. اهـ. ويأتي تمامه

فتاوی عثمانی 2/386  ، فتاوی رحیمیة 6 / 271

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