Islam Question and Answer - He divorced his wife thrice and he wants to take her back

He divorced his wife thrice and he wants to take her back

I had an argument with my wife while she was in her early pregnancy and I said to her: “you are divorced, you are divorced, you are divorced”. Then days after she gave birth I said to her: “you are divorced” and during Ramadan I had an argument with her and I said to her: “I make you haram for me, I divorce you”. Is this considered divorce? Is it permissible for me to take her back, or she is now considered a divorcee?.

 

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly: 

If a man says
to his wife, “You are divorced, you are divorced, you are divorced,” it
counts as three divorces according to the majority of scholars. But if he
intended the second and third times as emphasis for the first, then it
counts as one divorce. 

Some of the
scholars regarded his saying “You are divorced, you are divorced, you are
divorced” as being like saying “You are thrice divorced” and it only counts
as one divorce. 

Your saying to
her “You are divorced” after she gave birth counts as one divorce. So this
was the second divorce. 

But if she was
still in nifaas (post-partum bleeding) at the time of this divorce, then it
is a haraam, innovated divorce, and the scholars differed as to whether it
counts as such. The view favoured by the scholars of the Standing Committee
for Issuing Fatwas is that it does not count as such. 

It says in
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (20/58): Innovated divorces are of several
kinds, including: when a man divorces his wife at the time of menses, nifaas
or in a period of purity (i.e., not menstruating) when he has had
intercourse with her. The correct view is that this does not count as
divorce. End quote. 

Shaykh Ibn
Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Allaah has prescribed that women
are to be divorced when they are pure and free of nifaas or menses, and when
the husband has not had intercourse with them. This is the shar’i divorce.
If he divorces her during menses or nifaas or during a period of purity when
he has had intercourse with her, then this is an innovated divorce, and it
does not count as such according to the correct scholarly opinion, because
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“O Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وسلم)! When you divorce
women, divorce them at their ‘Iddah (prescribed periods) and count
(accurately) their ‘Iddah (periods)”

[al-Talaaq
65:1]. 

What is meant
is when they are in a state of purity and the husband had not had
intercourse with them. This is what the scholars said concerning divorcing
them at their ‘iddah (prescribed periods): they should be pure and not have
had intercourse or be pregnant. This is divorcing them at their ‘iddah
(prescribed periods).

End quote from
Fataawa al-Talaaq (p. 44). 

If you did not
ask a scholar about the ruling on this second divorce then it does not count
as such. But if you did ask one who is qualified to issue fatwas, then you
must act according to his fatwa.  

Your saying on
the third occasion “I divorce you” also counts as a divorce.  

If a man
divorces his wife a third time, then she becomes irrevocably divorced from
him and she is not permissible for him until she has married another man,
because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And if he
has divorced her (the third time), then she is not lawful unto him
thereafter until she has married another husband. Then, if the other husband
divorces her, it is no sin on both of them that they reunite, provided they
feel that they can keep the limits ordained by Allaah. These are the limits
of Allaah, which He makes plain for the people who have knowledge”

[al-Baqarah
2:230]. 

It should be
noted that the nikaah al-tahleel which some people do, which is a
marriage to a second husband, intended to make a thrice-divorced woman
permissible for her first husband by means of the second husband divorcing
her, is haraam and the one who does that is cursed; it is also an invalid
marriage and it does not make the woman permissible for her first husband. 

See also the
answer to question no. 109245. 

And Allaah
knows best.

 

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