QUESTION:
What do the scholars of the Dīn and muftīs of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue: A person divorced his wife three times in written form and the wife also saw this too, but she did not accept the divorce, so has divorce occurred; and then a few months later they began living together, so what is the ruling for them now?
Questioner: Brother from UK
ANSWER:
بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب
In the aforementioned scenario, as soon as the husband wrote the three divorces on the paper to his wife, Mughallazhah divorce[1] occurred; the woman is Harām [unlawful] for him, regardless of whether the wife saw it or not, whether it was accepted or not, because the right of divorce is of the man – the wife’s acceptance is not needed.
Just as it is stated in the Majestically Holy Qur’ān,
{بِیَدِہٖ عُقْدَۃُ النِّکَاحِؕ}
{he in whose hand is the marriage tie}
[Juz 2, Sūrah al-Baqarah 237]
Moreover, divorcing by writing is akin to verbal because this is a principle of Fiqh [Islamic Jurisprudence – Law], just as it is stated in al-Hidāyah,
“الکتاب کالخطاب”
‘Writing is the same as verbal.’
[al-Hidāyah, vol. 2, p. 25]
As for them now living together without Tahlīl [Halālah][2], this is unlawful unlawful unlawful, and it is essential for them to physically live separately as well as to repent & seek forgiveness of the previous sin committed.
[1] Three divorces making them both permanently unlawful for each other; only the process of Halālah is the solution to this problem which is mentioned later on in this very Islamic legal verdict.
[2] The Islamic legal method of a woman remarrying her former husband due to three divorces having been given.
واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری
Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadri
Translated by Haider Ali Madani
Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0851] Can a husband and wife still be together after 3 divorces?
