Concerning Divorce
Two Ways of Divorcing
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matter: Rukana ibn Abu Yazid said
“talaq”
to his
wife three times on a single occasion. Then he was
extremely sad at the step he had taken. The Prophet
asked him exactly how he had divorced her. He
replied that he had said
“talaq”
to her three times in
a row. The Prophet then observed, “All three count
as only one. If you want, you may revoke it.”
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A man may say
“talaq”
to his wife three times in a
row, in contravention of the
shari‘ah’
s prescribed
method, thereby committing a sin, but if he was
known to be in an emotionally overwrought state at
the time his act may be considered a mere absurdity
arising from human weakness. His three utterances
of the word
talaq
may be taken as an expression of
the intensity of his emotions and thus the
equivalent of only one such utterance. He is likely
to be told that, having transgressed a
shari‘ah
law,
he must seek God’s forgiveness, must regard his
three utterances as only one, and must take a full
three months to arrive at his final decision.
In the first phase of Islam, however, a different view
of divorce was taken by the second Caliph, ‘Umar
