The Ruling on Talaq by Signing a Paper Without Reading It

Question

A quarrel arose between my sister-in-law and her relatives; because of the quarrel I left home and lived separately, while my wife was at my in-laws’ house. Nothing whatsoever passed between my wife and me. On the third day after the quarrel my sister-in-law’s husband’s elder brother came to me with a paper and said, “Sign this.” I was angry at the time, and seeing him made me angrier still, and I signed it. Afterwards he read it out to me: in this paper my wife had written that she had willingly forgiven the mahr.

Answer

Since you did not pronounce talaq with your tongue, and talaq is not mentioned in the paper either, no talaq has taken effect by signing the paper. Had talaq been mentioned in the paper and had you signed it after reading or hearing it, then talaq would take effect.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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