Questionable divorce
22-6-2005 | IslamWeb
Question:
It's a question about divorce. I am second wife of my husband and got married with him 3 years back. At the time of marriage my husband told me that he has given divorce to her first wife but on fourth day of marriage he told me that I was not given divorce to his wife when I back to America I will file divorce case. Actually the story was totally different he has already sign divorce paper before marriage with me according to Pakistani law and I saw that divorce paper in which he pronounced Talaaq three times to his wife and there was signature of my husband along with two of the witness are resent but right now my husband told me that although I sign that papers but I didn't post it to my wife and he was taken Fatwa from Saudi Arabia and Mufti from Saudi Arabia given that Fatwa that divorce has not happened you may live with your wife. I heard it from most of the people that in Wahhaabi Muslak divorce laws are different and as in Saudi Arabia there is a Wahhaabi Maslak. What is the difference between Hanafi and Wahhaabi Maslak regarding Talaaq? But after marrying with me he file divorce case in America but without any result and he rejoin with her first wife. As you know laws in America is very strict that's why he is not declared my marriage and he is always forcing me not to tell anybody that you are my wife. I just ask you what happened if husband is signed divorce paper in front of two witness and say that I don't want to live with that lady but not send that papers to his wife is Talaaq held or not? Please reply me I am really disturb because of this situation. Please answer my question and give some example of Hadeeth for this situation.
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.
If a husband utters the word divorce to his wife while choosing to utter such a word, then divorce takes place even if he did not intend it, this is whether or not he has written it. But if he had just written the word without uttering it, then divorce does not take place unless he intended it.
Writing the word divorce is a metaphor for divorce, and divorce does not take place by uttering a metaphor of divorce unless one intends it.
In case divorce did not take place, then we remind that the husband must guard and preserve the rights of his wife who has no legal status according to the court system in your country.
As regards your husband divorcing his first wife, we cannot give a ruling whether that divorce is valid or not especially when he denies it.
Besides, we cannot comment on a Fatwa he was given that divorce did not take place because we do not know the basis of such a Fatwa that divorce did not take place, and we do not know how the question was posed to the Mufti [a person who gives religious rulings].
As regards Wahhaabism, it is not a Fiqh school; rather, it is a reformative call to Islam. It is a term that the enemies of the call of Shaykh Mohammad Ibn Abdul-wahhaab 
use in order to repel the people from it, and the Shaykh himself did not name his call to Islam with this name nor was it called so by any of his followers.
It is known in Saudi Arabia that the scholars there seek knowledge according to the Hanbali school.
It is true that there are differences in issues of Fiqh among the Four Schools of jurisprudence, and each School has its own Ijtihaad (a juristic opinion on matters which are not specified in the Quran or the Sunnah). Moreover, it is even possible to find a difference of opinion in one issue amongst the scholars of the same school. So, it is sufficient for the common people to act according to a scholar they trust in his religion and piety.
Finally, it should be noted that it is permissible in Islam to marry more than one wife. Since this is the religious ruling, then one should not worry about man-made laws that might forbid it.
More importantly, your husband may still be married to another wife, but that should not be a reason to distract you from your obligations and affection to him in his marriage to you.
Allaah Knows best.