Fatwa No : 84672
After two divorces, giving a third divorce after some time.

After two divorces, giving a third divorce after some time.

Respected Mufti Sahib, Assalamu Alaikum! We seek your guidance in a very serious matter concerning our family. Kindly help us to come out of this confusion. My name is Talha Israr. My mother was a bank officer, while my father never had a permanent source of income. My father has a very harsh temperament, and verbal abuse in our home is an everyday occurrence. Many times he even raised his hand against my mother. After each quarrel, elders of the family would intervene and advise him, but after some time, my father would return to the same old behavior. In every dispute, my father would threaten my mother with divorce, using it as a means to enforce his demands, but when his anger cooled down, he would forget about it. On one occasion during a quarrel, my father uttered divorce two times, and at the third time, a neighbor stopped him. The exact words for the two times were: “I divorce her” which I personally heard with my own ears. Recently, another issue arose between us brothers and our father (regarding the elimination of gambling from our home). The matter became very serious, and my father said: “I will leave all of you, but I will not leave this gambling.” He even threatened to throw us out of the house again. During this quarrel, my mother, who is a heart patient began to feel unwell. We brothers took her to our maternal relatives’ home for the night. The next day, when the family elders brought my mother back home, my father initially stopped her from entering the house and then, concerning divorce, he uttered the following words, which are preserved in a video recording:
“I am divorcing her.” (2nd time)
“I will divorce her.” (repeated several times)
“This woman is forbidden (haram) for me.”

الجوابُ حامِدا ًو مُصلیِّا ً

If the statement of the questioner is correct and based on truth, without any falsehood, then prior to the recent incident, during a quarrel, when the father of the questioner said twice the words of divorce “I divorce her” two (2) revocable divorces (Talaq e raji) had already taken effect upon his wife (the questioner’s mother). After that, their reconciliation and living together again as husband and wife was valid. Now, as per the recent incident, when the father of the questioner said the words “I am divorcing her” upon the mother’s return from her maternal relatives’ house, the third divorce has also come into effect. Thus, with the completion of three divorces, an irrevocable divorce (hurmat e mugallaza) has been established. Any other utterances of divorce, being outside their valid context, are considered void. Hence, now reconciliation (ruju) is no longer possible. Likewise, without a valid Halala e Shariah, a new marriage contract between them is also not permissible. After completing her waiting period (iddat), the woman is free to marry someone else.

مأخَذُ الفَتوی

کمافي حاشية ابن عابدين (رد المحتار): (قوله وما بمعناها من الصريح) أي مثل ما سيذكره من نحو: كوني طالقا واطلقي ويا مطلقة بالتشديد، وكذا المضارع إذا غلب في الحال مثل أطلقك كما في البحر (3/ 248)۔
و في الهداية شرح البداية: وإن كن الطلاق ثلاثا في الحرة أو ثنتين في الأمة لم تحل له حتى تنكح زوجا غيره نكاحا صحيحا ويدخل بها ثم يطلقها أو يموت عنها والأصل فيه قوله تعالى { فإن طلقها فلا تحل له من بعد حتى تنكح زوجا غيره } فالمراد الطلقة الثالثة اهـ (2/ 10) والله اعلم بالصواب