I hv divorced a girl three times in anger after a Nikah without wali. I hv read it somewhere that in order to justify that talaq doesn’t happen u cannot come back with a stance that the nikah was invalid. If u were of the view that nikah u have done is valid. I hv been having nightmares, waswasas, I am scared of Allah, I don’t want to do wrong.I married her without the consent of Wali after asking a mufti. We met twice in privacy we tried to do intercourse but she started bleeding while trying and we left it. We didn’t meet each other again. After nikah my friend told me dat the nikah is invalid according to shariah. After dat I never felt comfortable even there was a day when i thought that if it isn’t valid let it b we will do another nikah soon as the girl’s guardian will accept, and sometime i thought like I am married. But I never felt comfortable and convinced that our nikah was valid. My mistake was dat i didn’t consult anyone If I had I wouldn’t have been in a place like this. It was just becox of laziness or busy schedule you can say. When I divorced her 3 times in anger , we were fighting over some issue over the phone. I threatened her that if she called me again I will divorce her.She was angry she replied saying give me now on which I said I divorce u , i divorce u , I divorce u. Having said that as far as i remember I was angry i was only threatening her but her reply made me so much angry that I couldn’t control what I have said. I have doubts that while i was divorcing her , after saying 2 time or may be saying during the third time it flashed in my mind what I am saying but I couldn’t help stoping myself. I had no intentions to leave her permanently .I called her again and said don’t worry it is the 1st time i hv divorced u I can take u back. My confusion arose when i saw different opinions about that. Now i am having very bad waswasas. Please guide me in a little detail and guidance so i will be able to handle these waswasas.

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, is His slave and Messenger.

The scholars differed in opinion regarding the marriage contract without a Wali (guardian), and the majority of the scholars are of the view that it is invalid. We believe that this view is the most valid one; however, Imaam Abu Haneefah is of the view that it is valid. Since you conducted this marriage contract according to the School of Abu Haneefah, then it is valid. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 89782.

As regards the divorce, if the case is as you mentioned, that you said: “I divorce you” (in the present tense), then the divorce does not take place if you had only intended to threaten her and did not intend divorce, and if it is not the custom in your country to divorce on the spot using the present tense. Ibn Nujaym said: “…it does not include ‘I divorce you’ in the present tense, unless it is used predominantly to indicate the present, as stated in Fat-h al-Qadeer.” [End of quote]

It seems that the custom in your country is to divorce on the spot using these words in the present tense since you considered it a divorce. Based on this, the divorce has taken place three times unless you intended with the second and third divorce to emphasize the first divorce. Some scholars are of the view that it takes place as one divorce only in all cases. For more benefit, kindly refer to Fatwa 94110.

It is better to consult an Islamic court, as the ruling of the judge will be decisive against disagreements in issues of Ijtihaad (a juristic opinion on matters which are not specified in the Quran and Sunnah) as underlined in Fatwa 89707. In addition to this, the judge may ask you for more details when necessary. Also, you may orally ask the trustworthy scholars in your country.

As regards the devilish whispering (Waswaas), the best thing to do in order to avoid it is to completely ignore it and not get carried away with it. You should also perform the Ruqyah and busy yourself with Thikr (remembrance of Allaah) as much as possible, especially with the Athkaar (plural of Thikr) of morning and evening.

Finally, we warn you that asking too many questions makes your Waswaas and confusion stronger, especially when the content of the question (about the same issue) differ as this may lead to different answers, so you should beware of this.

Allaah Knows best.