Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah, I hope Insha Allah, you will be able to advice in the right direction. Please look into the following case: One Mrs. XYZ sought Khul from her husband Mr. ABC after eight years of marital life. Mr. ABC approved the request for Khul of Mrs. XYZ and Khul took place. Before the Idda period was over, the woman XYZ realized her fault and requested again for Nikkah, which the man ABC has accepted. They got remarried as per the Islamic Sharia. Within 3 months of remarriage, the Husband Mr. ABC realized and warned her that she is not obedient and not behaving properly as a wife. Finally after a few days, the Husband ABC divorced her (XYZ) during Tohar condition one time for not fulfilling the marital requirements. Before the Idda period came to an end, the wife repented and they reconciled and got united again. Again after 5 months, Husband ABC divorced Mrs. XYZ for her not obedient attitude and for not fulfilling the marital requirements. Again the wife Mrs. XYZ said, she will try to be following the marital requirements of a wife and they got reunited again. Again after reunification, the same problems surfaced again. Now the husband wants to diverse her again. Now the question is if the Husband divorces now in Tohar condition, is it considered as first Talaq, or the Third talaq? Waiting for your valuable advice on this issue. Jazak Allah Kharian Best Regards Talib

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.

What we understood from the question is that Khul' (a wife asking for divorce in return for compensation), occurred first and then after that the husband divorced his wife twice. If it is the matter then, the divorce he intends to deliver now will be the third divorce and his wife will become forbidden for him, and he can not marry her again unless she gets married to another man who divorces her after consummating the marriage with her. This ruling is true even if the Khul' is considered as an annulment of marriage and not a divorce because the husband has already delivered two divorces after the Khul'. Therefore, if he delivers the divorce now it will be the third divorce and not the first one, as the enquiring brother mentioned.

According to the majority of Muslim scholars who are of the opinion that Khul' is an irrevocable divorce, the husband’s taking his wife back at the last time was not correct, and it is not taken into consideration since he took her back after divorcing her thrice, given that Khul’ is considered a divorce, as mentioned in Fatwa 88502.

However, our advise to the husband is to refer his case to an Islamic court to look in the matter of his Khul' and the divorces which he has delivered after Khul', because giving Khul' with the words of divorce is considered a divorce, without any disagreement among scholars, and subsequently his taking his wife back at the last time was not correct according to all jurists. For more benefit, refer to Fatwa 82541.