an example to be followed. They also cite other proofs besides those we have listed, yet what we have mentioned is, in their view, the most explicit and decisive.
A different group of scholars, however, held that when a husband pronounces three divorces in a single phrase—or in several phrases with no revocation or intervening marriage—only one divorce actually takes effect. This view is reported from a number of Companions, Successors, and jurists.
Among the Companions who espoused it are: Abu Musa al-Ashʿari, Ibn ʿAbbas, ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud, ʿAli, ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿAwf, and al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwam.
Of the Successors: Tawus, ʿAtaʾ, Jabir ibn Zayd, the majority of Ibn ʿAbbas’s followers, ʿAbd Allah ibn Musa, and Muhammad ibn Ishaq.
Among later jurists: Dawud and most of his circle, some of Abu Hanifah’s colleagues, some of Malik’s, and some of Ahmad’s. Of the last group was al-Majd ʿAbd al-Salam ibn Taymiyyah, who issued this ruling privately, while his grandson Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah voiced it openly and delivered it in his gatherings, as did many of his students. Ibn al-Qayyim was also a major champion of the position, defending it at length in his books Al-Hadi and Ighathat al-Lahfan, where he surveyed the relevant texts and refuted the opposing view with arguments that are both sufficient and convincing.
They support their stance with both textual evidence and analogy.
As for the text, Muslim relates in his Sahih that Abu al-Sahbaʾ said to Ibn ʿAbbas, “Do you not know that during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, of Abu Bakr, and in the early years of ʿUmar’s rule, a triple divorce was treated as a single divorce?” He replied, “Yes.” In another wording he asked, “Was it reduced to one?” and Ibn ʿAbbas answered, “Yes.” This is an authentic, unambiguous report that admits of no reinterpretation.
As for analogy, joining three divorces together is forbidden and an innovation. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever introduces into our affair something that is not part of it, it is rejected.” Issuing three divorces in one blow is not part of the Prophet’s guidance; therefore it is invalid and of no effect.