Ruling on divorce depends on its type
11-2-2016 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalaamu alaykum. The Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said, "The pen has been lifted from three: from the sleeper until he wakes up, from the minor until he grows up, and from the insane until he comes back to his senses or recovers." the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said, "The deeds are considered by the intentions." In light of the above hadith, I seek a fatwa on divorce. I pronounced three utterings of divorce to my wife on three different occasions. The first one was pronounced as a warning. Does this count as the first divorce? Is this valid on invalid? The second one was pronounced when I asked her not to visit a particular place. I even told her that she would become a stranger to me if she refused to obey me. I was angry, but I was mindful. Despite this, she went, and I pronounced a second divorce? The third one was pronounced when she refused to talk to me for several days despite my warning. I pronounced my third divorce. Is my wife halal or haram to me? My wife brainwashed me and made be believe that my second divorce was invalid because it was said in a state of anger, so we got married again with a new mahr (bridal gift) and are living together with our children. I fear that I am committing fornication with my wife. Please advice. May Allaah reward you.
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.
Divorce may be issued with an explicit (sareeh) or implicit (kinaayah) wording, and it may either be an unconditional pronouncement of divorce with immediate effect (munjaz) or conditional (muʻallaq), i.e. subject to a condition in form of an oath or assigned to a future event, and some wordings are declared by the sharee'ah as a mere promise of divorce. The religious ruling differs according to the kind of the divorce issued and the wording used by the husband.
Scholars held different views regarding certain wordings of divorce. You did not specify the exact wording that you have used in the three occasions; therefore, we cannot pass a judgment in this regard (given the inadequate information). We advise you to refer the case to the concerned entity responsible for addressing the disputes among Muslims in your country of residence or to consult a trustworthy local scholar directly.
We would like to highlight that the husband can benefit of the prescribed ways of rectifying marital problems instead of hastening to divorce, which should only be the last resort. Both spouses should fulfill the rights of one another and maintain mutual respect so as to foster marital stability and preserve their family.
For more benefit, please refer to fataawa 92649, 90416, 82541 and 83467.
Allaah knows best.