taking her back; by pronouncing three divorces in a single utterance, he makes the separation irrevocable. For if those divorces did not take effect and were not binding upon him, he would not have lost his wife or wronged himself. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ counted as binding the divorce that ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar pronounced during menstruation, saying, “Tell him to take her back,” this also demonstrated that divorce takes effect whether it accords with the Sunnah or not. This is the position of all the jurists and the overwhelming majority of scholars; the only dissent comes from those whose disagreement carries no weight.

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Al-Shāfiʿī—may Allah have mercy on him—permitted a man to divorce his wife three times in a single utterance. As evidence, he cited the husband who divorced his wife three times after their mutual imprecation, in the presence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The man said, “I would have lied about her, O Messenger of Allah, if I kept her,” and divorced her three times before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ instructed him to do so. Al-Shāfiʿī said: “Had this been objectionable, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would have condemned it.”

This provides no proof, however, because he was merely divorcing a woman who was no longer his wife and who had become forbidden to him through mutual imprecation. Perhaps the Prophet ﷺ did condemn it, as he was obliged to condemn divorcing a woman who was not one’s wife. Not everything that happened was transmitted.

He also cited other incidents that do not substantiate his argument, including ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn ʿAwf’s divorcing his wife Tumādir three times during his illness, and Abū ʿAmr ibn Hafs’s divorcing his wife Fātima bint Qays three times. Neither incident provides him with any proof, because neither man pronounced three divorces in a single utterance. Rather, each pronounced one divorce, which was the last of the three available to him.

Another of his arguments concerns the general wording of “the Messenger of Allah’s ﷺ statement in the hadith of Ibn ʿUmar: ‘Tell him to take her back, then keep her until she becomes pure, then menstruates, then becomes pure again. Thereafter, if he wishes, he may keep her, and if he wishes, he may divorce her,’ without specifying one divorce rather than three.”

Yet he cannot know better what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ intended by these words than those to whom they were addressed: ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb and his son ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar. Both said: “Whoever pronounces three divorces has disobeyed Allah and His Messenger.”

Another of his arguments is that the husband has merely forgone one form of divorce he was entitled to pronounce—revocable divorce—and pronounced another form he was entitled to pronounce. On this reasoning, he would have to permit divorcing a menstruating woman if she consented to it, since this was prohibited only to prevent prolonging her waiting period. Yet no one holds this view.

Whoever pronounces three divorces in a single utterance has disobeyed his Lord, transgressed His limits, wronged himself, and obeyed Satan; thus, no way out has been provided for him. It has been reported: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was informed of a man who had divorced his wife three times at once. He rose in anger and said: ‘Is Allah’s Book being made a plaything while I am among