He divorced his wife once, then when he went to document it officially in the court, he signed a paper that said he had divorced her three times

Question: 216915

My question is that My brother has divorced his wife 14 months ago. He went to the get the divorce paper made himself. On which he said he signed there while he read on it 3 talaq being given in one time. He wasnt completely sure what that exactly meant. As in Pakistan they use it pretty much as a standard format. He did not get the two witness sign the divorce papers and posted one to his wifes address and the other copy that he had to submit at the council, that he did not submit till today. And both the copes were not signed by the witnesses but everyone got aware of his act obviously. He had problems with his wifes family. Later on his wife and her family contacted him numerous times for reconciliation but he refused. And at the same time he kept saying he is confused. Now after all this time that has passed and the way he has given this divorce will it be considered as 1 divorce or 3. Can he get back to his wife? And if Islamic talaq is how Quran says then how can any other method be valid for a muslim regardless if it changed with time. Quran is for all times And he says he followed this method just because this is the method in practice in the country judicial system. He wasn’t well aware about the details. And on one side Allah is giving people repeated chances to unite on the other side all of a sudden by one unplanned mistake that u dont know much about you simple losse that right. How can anyones opinions be above the word of Quran.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Divorce (talaaq) is the right of
the husband that Allah, may He be glorified, has given to him to be issued
to his wife if there is a need to do so. The Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) affirmed that when he said: “(The right of divorce)
belongs to the one who takes hold of the calf [i.e., her husband who has the
right to intimacy].” Narrated by Ibn Maajah, 2072; classed as hasan by al-Albaani
in Saheeh Ibn Maajah.

Al-Maawardi said in his
commentary on the hadeeth: Divorce (talaaq) is given to the husband, to the
exclusion of all others.

End quote from al-Haawi al-Kabeer,
10/356.

In al-Bayaan fi Madhhab
al-Imam ash-Shaafa‘i (10/318) it says: The husband is the one who “takes
hold of the calf (i.e., has the right to intimacy).” End quote.

‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with
him) said: Divorce (talaaq) is only in the hand of the one for whom
intercourse is permissible.

End quote from al-Mughni
by Ibn Qudaamah, 7/355

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah
have mercy on him) said in ash-Sharh al-Mumti‘ ‘ala Zaad al-Mustaqni‘
(12/490): Allah, may He be exalted, has connected marriage and divorce to
the husband himself, as He says (interpretation of the meaning): “O you
who believe! When you marry believing women, and then divorce them…” [al-Ahzaab
33:49]. Allah has connected divorce to marriage, so divorce is in his
(the husband’s) hands. End quote.

Based on that, it is not
permissible for the court or anyone else to supersede the husband with
regard to divorcing his wife.

In the case mentioned in the
question, if the husband had divorced his wife one time only, then that
alone is what counts as such, and what is written on the official papers
that he signed is of no significance, so long as he did not intend thereby
to issue a threefold divorce.

We only say that because by
signing he is considered to have written the divorce, and writing the
divorce is more akin to metaphor, as stated in fatwa no.
72291. Metaphor does not count as a divorce unless he intends it as
such; if he did not intend by signing this paper to issue a threefold
divorce, then there are no consequences to that, and he is not bound by
anything except the (one) divorce that he issued to his wife. This divorce
is revocable so long as it was not issued in return for some compensation or
money, and was not a third divorce.

Based on the above, the husband
has the right to take his wife back, even if that is without her knowledge
or consent, if her ‘iddah has not yet ended.

But if her ‘iddah has ended,
then he may marry her again, with a new marriage contract and mahr, but the
previous divorce still counts as such.

However we should point out that
the more correct scholarly view – which is what fatwas on this website are
based on – is that if the husband issues a threefold divorce to his wife, it
is to be counted as one, and divorce can only be regarded as having been
issued three times if he divorced her on three separate occasions, then took
her back each time.

This has been discussed
previously in fatwa no. 96194

And Allah knows best.

Source:

Islam Q&A

Was this answer helpful?