A man divorces his wife in a state of anger

As-salaamu ’alaykum,

Here’s my issue:

I came back from another country on Wednesday night at around 11pm after attending a very intense course. Despite tired and jet-lagged, I went to office the next morning on Thursday. There was a lot of work for me at office because of my absence for so many days. The workload, combined with my fatigue and jet-lag made me really cranky. When I came back home, my mood was not good. My wife was bearing my mood ever since my return. By the night time, she also had had enough of me and she started complaining about my mood. This made me furious. I took my son’s easel and was going to throw it on her. Then I punched her three times on her shoulder and arm. She started shouting, which made me even more mad. All this time she was saying things which were making me insane. I broke a plastic piece of my son’s toy and with its sharp edges, hit my stomach like a knife – hurting myself badly. She would not stop saying provocative words and shouting, and then I said ‘main tumhain talaq deta hoon’ or ‘I give you divorce’ just to shut her up, without realizing the consequences of what I was saying and without realizing that it would be my third time. I was clearly furious and not in my complete senses, but of course I was not insane or majnoon. My mouth and throat were dry and I could hardly breathe or utter words. Is this talaq valid?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الجواب حامدا ومصليا ومسلما

We are extremely grieved by the bitter event which took place between you and your wife. Domestic violence is never acceptable, you should immediately repent to Allah for the wrong you have done. According to Shari’a, the words you uttered caused divorce to occur. If this was the third time divorce happened, the husband and wife may not remarry. We pray to Allah that he makes the situation as easy as possible for the family. 

والله اعلم

Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala knows best.

Approved by Mufti Husain Ahmad Madani