Zihar by calling one’s wife sister or daughter

Question

A certain person asks: “On one occasion, out of joy, I called my wife ‘sister’ (as one addresses an elder sister), and on another occasion, out of excess of love, ‘child’ (meaning ‘daughter’), or ‘girl’, or just ‘daughter’. Will zihar occur by this, and will expiation (kaffara) have to be given? And what is the easy expiation for a poor person? A general rule (dabita kulliyya) is requested on the issue of zihar and on the obligation of expiation, by which all particular cases may be known.

Answer

(1) Zihar does not occur by this, but saying so is makruh: [ar]يكره قوله: أنت أمي، ويا ابنتي، ويا أختي، ونحوه. اهـ[/ar] “It is disliked (makruh) for him to say: ‘you are my mother’, ‘O my daughter’, ‘O my sister’, and the like” (“al-Durr al-Mukhtar”). [ar]جزم بالكراهية تبعا للبحر والنهر، والذي في الفتح: وفي أنت أمي لا يكون مظاهرا، وينبغي أن يكون مكروها.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.