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Fatwa CenterHe might have divorced his wife after the end of her waiting period
Question
Assalam alaikum. I had 1 query from many days in my mind so wanted to clear the same. I got married in April 2007. After 2 two months of marriage I got seperated with my wife ue to arguments. That time she was pregnant. then many things happend and our matter went to government court. this case was on for more than a year. During this year. I sent 1st Divorce to my wife as she wanted me to stay seperate from my parents which i couldnt afford at that time. In the next month of 1st divorce, I sent her 2nd Divorce after 30 days. again she didnt turn up. after that we started communicating in the court and started to talk regularly. ( the case was still in the court)..after a 2nd divorce..i did not sent her 3rd divorce....and we had a sexual intercourse after 2nd divorce. before that she gave birth to baby daughter. after having sexual relationship many times....thing were still the same...we were still in the court. she was not ready to come along with me and was asking me to stay seperate....after 14 months of my 2nd divorce, i sent her 3rd and the last divorce. I wanted to know if this is permissable in Islam to divorce her after 14 months of gap and sexual intercourse. I consulted a Scholar Mufti of city. He studied the case and told me that my divorce is not complete and cannot be taken valid as you have waitied for 14 months between 2nd and 3rd divorce, again she was pregnant at that time, then u had a sexual relation with her. you still have a chance to re-marry her as your 3rd divorce is not valid. so after many troubles, we decided to stay together again. I got married with her again. and now i am living with her..please tell me if this marriage is valid. according to Mufti scholar ....our divorce is not completed at all and I had a choice to get her back.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
In regard to the first divorce, the matter is clear and divorce had taken place. As regards the second divorce, if it was after you took your wife back during her waiting period, then divorce had also taken place. The same applies if she was in her waiting period from the first divorce, because a revocably divorced woman (in her waiting period) takes the ruling of a wife and so divorcing her is considered as a valid divorce.
Concerning having sexual intercourse with her after the second divorce, if this happened during her waiting period, then by having sexual intercourse with the wife, you are considered as having taken her back according to the Hanafi, Maaliki and Hanbali Schools of jurisprudence, however, the Maaliki School of jurisprudence conditioned that the husband must have the intention of taking her back. Based on the opinion that by having sexual intercourse with the wife she is taken back, then you are considered as having taken her back. In this case, then you had initiated a third divorce to her while she was your wife, so this divorce takes place as well.
On the other hand, if we presume that you had not taken her back, and you divorced your wife while she was pregnant, then she was still in her waiting period, because the waiting period of a pregnant woman ends by her giving birth to the baby, in which case, this divorce took place. Therefore, your wife had become permanently forbidden for you and you are not permitted to take her back until she marries another man a genuine marriage and he consummates the marriage with her and then he divorces her or dies.
However, if you uttered the word divorce after she gave birth to the child, then in this case she is not considered your wife and so the divorce does not take place. However, you cannot take her back except with a new contract.
Nonetheless, we advise you not to rely on this Fatwa or on the Fatwa of the Shaykh whom you mentioned in the question because one cannot know all the circumstances and conditions in which such a divorce was initiated except by presenting your case orally (in person) to the scholars, so we advise you to consult trustworthy people in the country where you live.
Allaah Knows best.
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