“If I do not burn the house — a major (mughallaza) divorce”

Question

Question: Zayd, having quarrelled with his brother, said: “If you do not build your house leaving nine and a half cubits (four and three-quarter yards) from the southern side of the house — where the water from the roof of my house falls — then, by God, I will burn that house down; there is spirit in the house.” He said, “I will build.” I said, “By God, I will burn it.

Answer

The safest way is for Zayd’s brother to build the house leaving nine and a half cubits of space from there. If Zayd sells that house of his, he will also be freed from the oath. Moreover, Zayd did not say, “When you build a house there, I will burn it immediately”; hence there is latitude in it (the time is not restricted)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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