Signing a Divorce Deed Without Reading It

Question

Question: In order to divorce his wife, a man goes to the bazaar and buys a paper for the talaq, then gives it to a deed-writer and says: “Write the divorce deed of my wife.” The deed-writer writes the divorce deed and, having had the questioner sign it without reading it out to him, hands the divorce deed over to the one pronouncing the talaq; and the one pronouncing the talaq himself also states that he did not read the divorce deed. Has this talaq taken effect?

Answer

In the case asked about, one talaq has taken effect according to the Shari‘a: [ar]وَلَوْ قَالَ لِلْكَاتِبِ: اكْتُبْ طَلَاقَ امْرَأَتِي، كَانَ إِقْرَارًا بِالطَّلَاقِ وَإِنْ لَمْ يَكْتُبْ.[/ar] “If he said to the scribe, ‘Write the talaq of my wife,’ it is an admission of talaq, even if the scribe did not write it” (“Shami”, vol. 2, p. 469).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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