The Word Talaq Slipped Off the Tongue Involuntarily

Question

If a person was talking idly about this and that, about imaginary things, and in the course of it also pronounced talaq on his wife, while he had no thought at all of what effect his words would have, and the thought came to him only after he had said it — did talaq take effect or not? After halala, is the old mahr sufficient, or will the former mahr lapse so that a new mahr will have to be fixed? Kindly inform us of the answer.

Answer

If he wanted to say something else but his tongue slipped and the word talaq came out of it, then religiously (diyanatan) talaq did not take effect, but judicially (qada'an) talaq will be ruled. That is, if the matter reaches a court or a Shar'i council and he says, “I did not want to say the word talaq; rather I wanted to say such-and-such a word, and the word talaq slipped…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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