and as often as he wishes; one pronouncement dissolves the bond, whereas three make her unlawful to him until she marries another husband. The same applies to a pregnant woman: divorcing her with a single pronouncement is Sunnah and never bidʿa. Thus, whenever the husband issues that one divorce—at any time or in any circumstance—he is not disobeying his Lord so long as he does not add another divorce during her ʿidda (waiting period). Should he follow that first pronouncement with another during the ʿidda, or combine three divorces at once, then, according to Mālik, he has not divorced according to the Sunnah. A group of scholars disagreed, considering such a divorce Sunnah and binding.
As for the wife with whom intercourse has taken place, the Sunnah is that the husband who intends to divorce her should pronounce a single repudiation while she is pure after menstruation and before he has touched her, then let her complete her ʿidda, adding no further divorce in that state of purity or during the rest of the waiting period. If he later wishes to take her back, he may do so before the ʿidda ends; otherwise he allows it to expire—by the completion of three menstrual cycles for a woman who menstruates, or three full months for one who does not. When her ʿidda ends she is separated from him and gains control over herself; should he then wish to remarry her, he must conclude a new contract with her consent, a new dower, and a guardian.
According to Mālik, a Sunnah divorce hinges on two matters: timing and number. The husband may not exceed a single pronouncement, and he may issue it only in a state of purity during which he has not had intercourse with her. If he divorces her in a purity in which he has already lain with her, or while she is menstruating or in postpartum bleeding, that is a bidʿa divorce, not a Sunnah divorce; he thereby oversteps his Lord’s limits, sins, and wrongs himself, yet the divorce still counts.
Divorce is not an act of worship that becomes effective only when performed exactly in its Sunnah form. It would be absurd and ignorant to hold the obedient servant who follows the Prophet’s Sunnah in divorce bound by it, while sparing the disobedient who violates the divine command. The jurists of the various cities and the leading imams have not differed concerning anyone who divorces