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Divorce is effective in an invalidly consummated marriage

Question

Assalaamu alaykum Shaykh. I married a girl without her guardian, and one day, in anger, I said to her, "I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you." I asked this from you before and got the fatwa that if one got married according to the Hanafi way, then it is valid, however, there are two opinions for divorce; some scholars say that it counts as one and some say that it is irrevocable. I was not sure whether I married her according to the Hanafi way or not, because i did not know about Fiqh rulings at that time. I checked with my local scholar, and he gave me a fatwa that divorce during menstruation does not count. I accepted it. The girl, on the other side, got the fatwa that there is no divorce at all because there was never a marriage from the beginning. I was also convinced that the marriage was not valid, so we decided to annul the relation. I told the girl that there is no relation between us from now onwards. Then I saw another fatwa on your website that says that in order to end an invalid marriage you have to divorce. So I said, "I divorce you." Some time later, I kissed her on the cheeks, it was a goodbye kiss, but I thought taht this might mean reconcillation, so I said, "I divorce you," again, which the girl is not aware of. We did not keep any relation after I told her that there is not any relation between us. Now Shaykh, her parents want her to marry me; I do not know what should be done. Can I marry her again?

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  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

First of all, there are some circumstances in your question that require that you consult an Islamic Court or that you verbally ask some trustworthy and pious scholars as there are things that need some clarification.

Here are some general rulings for benefit:

1- There is a difference of opinion among the scholars regarding the ruling of marriage without the woman's guardian. The view that we consider to be the preponderant one at Islamweb is that such a marriage is invalid, and this is the view of the majority of the scholars. According to them, the consent (and presence) of the guardian is a condition for the validity of the marriage contract, contrary to the view of the Hanafi School. For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 83629. However, if a woman married without a guardian, following the view of Abu Haneefah, or that a Muslim judge ruled that such a marriage is valid, then it [marriage] is effective as underlined in fatwa 89782.

2- In any case, the divorce here [in your case] is effective. If the marriage is valid, then the matter is clear [i.e. divorce is valid]. If the marriage is invalid, then the invalid marriage after consummation has the same effects of a valid marriage. If the husband issues a divorce in an invalid marriage, it is effective. Please, refer to fatwa 92478.

3- The husband saying to his wife: I divorce you, in the present tense, does not count as a divorce unless he intended to initiate a divorce, as explained in fataawa 282886 and 280066.

4- If we presume that you intended to initiate a divorce, then repeating it three times takes effect as three divorces if the husband did not intend to confirm the first divorce with the second and third divorce. However, some scholars hold the view that issuing a divorce three times at the same meeting (at the same time) takes effect as one divorce only. Please refer to fatwa 94110.

5- Divorce during menstruation is effective according to the view that we consider to be the preponderant one, and this is the view of the majority of the scholars. We have already clarified this in fatwa 81864. Also, anger does not prevent divorce from taking place unless the husband was unaware of what he said. For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 83467.

Allaah knows best.

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