Sunday, 19 April 2026 (2 Dhuʻl-Qiʻdah 1447 AH)
Question: A man swore by the divorce of his wife that he would not sit with his friends who had strongly urged him to sit with them. He is from a distant land, and he uttered this oath while in a state of bewilderment, without any specific intention in directing the oath to a particular matter; rather, the oath of divorce simply issued from his tongue. Is there any stratagem by which he can avoid both things (i.e. divorce and displeasing his friends)?
Answer – and Allah is the One who grants success: If the oath is as described in the question, then its meaning must be carried upon the meaning customarily understood in such cases. I am of the view that when this swearer leaves and travels away from the land from which he swore by divorce, he has thereby fulfilled his oath. When he then returns to them after having travelled, the ruling of the oath no longer applies to him. Hence the stratagem is that he travel a barīd (a short legal distance of travel), then return.
Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.2