Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- If a husband divorced his wife first time, he can take her back and then can resume the married life without any fresh marriage contract.
2- He is allowed to do that second time also as long as she is still in the waiting period.
3- If the husband divorced his wife three times, then he can neither take her back during the iddah nor after it, unless she marries someone else and he divorces her and then after iddah she wants to return to her previous husband.
Responding to the questions you raised, Dr. Muzzammil H. Siddiqi, Former President of the Islamic Society of North America, states:
After divorce, the wife has to observe waiting period (iddah). If a husband divorced his wife first time, he can take her back and then can resume the married life without any fresh marriage contract.
He is allowed to do that second time also. If he divorces her second time and then within iddah he wants to resume the relationship, he can cancel the second divorce also.
Again second time divorced couples can also be together without a fresh marriage contract.
But if he divorced her first time or second time and the women went into iddah and then her iddah was complete, then she is no more his wife and he cannot go back to her, unless they both agree to marry each other. After two divorces they can remarry if they wish.
However, if the husband divorced his wife three times, then he can neither take her back during the iddah nor after it, unless she marries someone else and he divorces her and then after iddah she wants to return to her previous husband.
Allah says in the Quran,
{Divorce is only permissible twice: after that, the parties should either hold together on equitable terms, or separate with kindness. If a husband divorces his wife (third time or irrevocably), he cannot, after that, remarry her until after she has married another husband and he has divorced her. In that case there is no blame on either of them if they reunite, provided they feel that they can keep the limits ordained by Allah. Such are the limits ordained by Allah which He makes plain to those who understand.” (Al-Baqarah 2:229-230)
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.