Husband's intention determines how many counts of divorce he issued

22-10-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. I have a question regarding divorce. A man said to his wife, "You are Taaliq." She told him, "I am having my menses." He said, "You are Taaliq after your menses." Is this considered one divorce or two? May Allah reward you.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Divorce took place when the husband said ‘You are Taaliq (You are divorced)’. The fact that she was menstruating (was in her period) does not prevent divorcing her, according to the view adopted at Islamweb, which is also the view of most scholars. Please refer to fatwa 289207.

As for the husband’s statement afterwards, ‘You are Taaliq after your menses’, then if he intended to issue a new divorce, a new divorce takes place once her period ends. In this case, these are considered two counts of divorce. If the husband did not intend to issue a divorce and only intended to tell her that the first divorce is effective, then this does not count as a second divorce, meaning that she was only divorced once.

Allah knows best.