Fatwa ID: 04393

Answered by: Alimah Sabrina Al-Faarsiyyah

Question

I live and have been working in Kuwait since 2008. Three years ago I divorced my wife on the phone by saying "I divorce you 3 times" although I only uttered these words once.

Now, three years later, I am thinking of getting my wife back with a new marriage contract since she never married after our divorce. Hence, I asked the ministry of religious affairs in Kuwait and I also sent my wife – who lives in Pakistan – to go and ask the Madrassah (Darul Ifta).

We have received different fatwas from both. The Kuwait fatwa was that I can get her back with a new marriage contract, whereas the Ulama of Pakistani said I can't get her back until she has had "halalah"

My question here is to guide me in the light of the Quran and Sunnah – which one is the right fatwa to follow?

JazakAllah khair

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم 

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

If a man divorces his wife three times with explicit words of talāq (divorce), his wife will now become mughallazah (irrevocably harām upon him).^[1] This means that you cannot marry your wife now and you should leave her to marry whoever else she wants. If in the future, coincidentally, she is given divorce by her new husband and you wish to marry her, it will be permissible.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Alimah Sabrina Al-Faarsiyyah

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Iftā Birmingham

^[1]Al-Fatawa Al-Hindiyyah, pg.422-423, Al-Maktabah Al-Faisal