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Fatwa CenterCase of conditional divorce
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. My wife has accused me of beating her and raping her because she got jealous of my ex-wife. Whilst in prison, I phoned her and asked her, "Why did you do this to me?" She replied, "Because you love your ex-wife." Without think about what I was saying, I replied, "By Allaah, may you go divorced from me do not love my ex-wife." In other words, that we would be divorced if I love my ex-wife; I do not love my ex-wife. Brother, the reason I said this is because I wanted her to go to the police and tell the truth and let me out of prison. All I wanted was to convince her that I do not love my ex-wife but only her. Is this a divorce, Brother? Please write back to me asap. May Allaah reward you.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
It seems - and Allaah Knows best - that you had made divorcing your current wife conditional upon whether you love your ex-wife or not. Hence, if you do not love your ex-wife, then divorce does not take effect, and if you do, then divorce takes effect according to the scholars who held that the conditional divorce takes effect once the thing upon which it is made conditional takes place, namely, the majority of the scholars.
If your wife truly accused you of beating her, then she has wronged you. As for accusing you of raping her, if she means forcing her into having sexual intercourse with you, then this is not considered rape in Islamic terminology. Rape is defined as forcing a woman into committing adultery or fornication with the offender. The husband has the right to have intercourse with his wife, and it is impermissible for her not to respond to him without a valid excuse. Abu Hurayrah 
narrated that the Messenger of Allaah said, "When a man calls his wife to his bed and she refuses and he spends the night angry with her, then the angels curse her till the morning." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 134803.
Allaah knows best.
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