Talaq by the words “There is no relationship”

Question

There is a young woman whose husband has been living away from home for six years and is idle; he has left his wife at her parents’ home: he neither concerns himself with her food and maintenance (nafaqa) nor brings her to his home, nor do the husband’s parents call her. When he occasionally comes home and people say to him, “Why do you not call your wife?

Answer

If the husband said the words mentioned in the question with the intention of talaq, as appears outwardly, then after the ‘idda his wife is permitted to contract a second marriage. If there is some doubt, then for further confirmation let him be asked again: “Should she contract a second marriage or not? She is no longer your wife.”

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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