Man divorced his wife & she has no knowledge of it, is she divorced?

Question:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh

According to Shariah, if a husband divorces his wife and she does not know of the divorce, she will be divorced. However, divorce has implications such as Iddat, etc which the wife has to observe. The husband should inform her of the divorce so that she can observe her Iddat.

Furthermore, the Iddat of a divorcee is three menses if she experiences menses and she did not conceive. If she does not experience menses, her Iddat will be three months. If she is pregnant at the time of divorce, her iddat will be until she gives birth.

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Mufti  Ismail Desai,

Darul Iftaa 

Checked and Approved,

Mufti Ebrahim Desai.