Imam an-Nawawī: Swearing on Pain of Divorce that Imam ash-Shāfiʿī is the Best of the Imams

  حلف بالطلاق أن الشافعي أفضل الأئمة

مسألة: لو حلف بالطلاق أن الشافعي أفضل الأئمة في عصره ومذهبه خير المذاهب، هل يقع عليه الطلاق أم لا؟

أجاب رضي الله عنه: لا طلاق عليه، والله أعلم.

Question: If a man swears that his wife is divorced if Imam ash-Shāfiʿī is not the best of the Imams in his age and that his madhhab is the best of the madhhabs, is his wife divorced or not?

He, may Allah be pleased with him, replied: His wife is not divorced, and Allah knows best.

[Translated from Fatāwāal-Imam an-Nawawī al-Musammā bi: al-Masāʾil al-Manthūrah (Beirut: Dāral-Bashāʾir al-Islamiyyah, 1417/1996) p.197]