traced back to the Prophet ﷺ.
Ibn al-Qayyim devoted a lengthy discussion to this issue in his Tadhhīb al-Sunan, yet the sounder position is that adopted by the majority of scholars—Allah knows best.
Shaykh Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī said:
“In sum, although the ḥadith is authentic and transmitted through numerous chains, the narrators differed over whether Ibn ʿUmar counted that first divorce he pronounced while his wife was menstruating. They divide into two groups:
- Those who reported that he did count it.
- Those who reported that he did not.
The first group is stronger for two reasons:
First, the great number of its chains.
Second, the explicit force with which these reports convey the intended meaning—an unequivocal wording that admits no reinterpretation. The second group, by contrast, can be interpreted away, as in Imam al-Shāfiʿī’s statement, ‘He did not regard it as anything,’ i.e. he did not deem it correct; this is not an explicit text stating that he did not consider it a divorce. The first group, however, is a clear text affirming that he did regard it as a divorce, and therefore it must be given precedence over the other group.”
Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah have mercy on him—acknowledged this but expressed doubt about the authenticity of the marfūʿ wording found in that first group. He said: “As for the phrase in Ibn Wahb’s narration, ‘and it counts as one,’ by Allah! Had this wording truly come from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, we would have set nothing before it and would have embraced it at first sight.”
His misgiving, however, is unfounded. Ibn Wahb was not the sole transmitter of the report; he was followed by al-Ṭiyālisī, who said: “Ibn Abī Dhīb narrated to us—from Nāfiʿ—from Ibn ʿUmar: ‘He divorced his wife while she was menstruating; ʿUmar went to the Prophet ﷺ and mentioned it to him, and the Prophet counted it as one.’”
Yazīd ibn Abī Dhīb also followed him with the same report, and its transmitters are trustworthy. Ibn Jurayj likewise followed Ibn Abī Dhīb—from Nāfiʿ—from Ibn ʿUmar—with the wording: “It is one.”