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:
Pronouncing divorce three times in one sitting is considered sinful (haram) by all scholars. The controversy lies in its effect. The majority of scholars and the four Madhhabs consider it a final, irrevocable divorce (three divorces). However, the opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah, which is now widely accepted, is that it only counts as one pronouncement of divorce, allowing the couple a chance to reconcile.
In response to this question, Dr. Yasir Qadhi — the Dean of The Islamic Seminary of America and the resident scholar at the East Plano Islamic Center — states:
This is a constant question that comes up. And unfortunately, allow me to crack a joke here, the Pakistani dramas have made this issue completely mainstream that everybody knows about it. That’s why she’s asking about this issue of the triple divorce.
The triple divorce is a highly controversial issue. The controversy is that some scholars, many scholars, say a triple divorce in one sitting is permanent. Because what is the Sunnah? What is the Shari`ah of Allah?
And brothers, all of you should learn this because if you don’t know it and then you fall into an error, it’s a problem. You should learn the Fiqh of divorce before, may God protect you, you ever need it.
The Fiqh of divorce, I already said to you, you give one pronouncement of divorce after all the procedures have failed. It is against the Sunnah, it is Bid`ah, it is haram.
All scholars say it is sinful to give triple divorce at the same time. All scholars say this. It is sinful to say, “talaq, talaq, talaq” three times. You should not do this. Unfortunately, the dramas have made a drama out of it. They don’t realize they’re breaking lives because of this.
The Sunnah is one pronouncement of divorce, and the purpose is that after that one pronouncement of divorce, you have the three months to cool down. If the divorce takes place, that is the first divorce. Then there’s another opportunity.
Suppose after one year, neither gets married, and then they say, “You know what, I think what we had is better than being single. We’ve learned now, we’ve matured.”
They can get married with a new contract. They can do this a second time and even a third time. That is the purpose of only giving one pronouncement of divorce, so that you have an opportunity.
Now, what if the husband does not follow the Sunnah and does the triple divorce? This is where the issue comes. The goal of the Shari`ah was not that the husband utilizes all three strikes and is out in one go. That’s not the goal of the Shari`ah. But suppose somebody does. This is where there’s a controversy. The majority of the scholars, one would say the Madhhabs, basically say that three is three.
If you’re all aware of the big controversy, Ibn Taymiyyah was jailed for this fatwa, believe it or not. Literally because of this fatwa, Ibn Taymiyyah said that a triple divorce given in one sitting constitutes one pronouncement of divorce. The other scholars said… the issue was, Ibn Taymiyyah wasn’t liked by the other scholars, so they used this fatwa, not that they cared about the triple divorce issue, they just used this fatwa to basically “cancel” him, negate him.
And you know, if social media were there, lots of videos would be released against him as well, and PDFs and what not. So they said that, you know, this is an innovator (Mubtadi`), he’s misguided, CIA agent, whatever it is. So basically, let’s put him in jail.
So they jailed him, believe it or not. I mean, think about it, how trivial. It’s an opinion, man. What’s the big deal? But that’s the reality when you’re in that fanatic mindset. Because he said triple divorce, he wants to save marriages. He said triple divorce in one sitting constitutes one pronouncement of divorce, and he had his evidences for it.
Now, this fatwa at the time was considered very evil, very wrong. He was put into jail. But slowly but surely, people began to read and understand his reasoning. And in fact, there are some very explicit evidences that one can use for Ibn Taymiyyah’s fatwa.
In fact, he said this is actually what happened in the time of the Prophet himself. He actually has a very explicit evidence for this. There’s a narration that says that the triple divorce in the time of the Prophet was considered one pronouncement of divorce. He actually, there’s an actual narration like this. So he uses this.
Long story short, after a while, this fatwa became more acceptable until finally, many scholars adopted it. And in our times, actually, many councils have adopted it. Why? Because we see with our own eyes what happens when an angry husband, for trivial reasons in a state of anger, says triple divorce, then he’s like, “What do I do now?”
This is why this fatwa is actually now pretty common to hear, that the triple divorce constitutes one pronouncement of divorce.
And actually, this is my opinion as well. Ibn Taymiyyah had this opinion very clearly, and he has some good evidence for this.
So to answer this question, I would say firstly, the husband is sinful and he should repent to Allah and learn Fiqh, and all of you should learn this before you need to do it. May Allah protect you, but if you need to do it, learn the proper way to do this. And secondly, the correct opinion, and Allah knows best, is the triple divorce constitutes one pronouncement of divorce.
👉 Explore other common Fiqh questions on divorce:
- What Are the Procedure and Rulings of Divorce?
- Valid Reasons for Divorce in Islam
- Does Legal Divorce End Marriage?
- Can a Conditional Divorce Be Revoked in Islam?
- Triple Divorce in Islam
- Should I Seek Divorce Because of Husband’s Long Absence?
- Talaq in Anger: Valid?
Almighty Allah knows best.