Fatwa ID: 06260

Answered by: Maulana Mohammed Haroon Hussain

Question:

I have a question in regard to Islamic divorce. My husband has given me 2 talaaq Islamic and also gone with a decree of absolute divorce. What is my Islamic divorce status? Do I stand at 2 talaaq or 3?

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

Answer:

This will count as 2 divorces. The decree absolute does not count as a divorce in most cases.

The following extract from the work of Mufti Shadman sahib explains the exception:

“Secular divorce does not count as Islamic divorce except if the husband intends to give ownership of issuing an Islamic divorce to the judge when the Judgment Form is passed. This is only when he is the Petitioner or if he responds and requests a divorce from the court. He must have intention in both cases and the result in both cases is an irrevocable divorce.”¹

So, if your husband intended to pass over the responsibility of giving the divorce to the court, then it will be 3 divorces in total. If he did not make any intention of handing it over (which is most likely the case) and just filled in the form, then it will count as 2 and the decree absolute will just be considered as making it official in legal terms rather than a third divorce.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Maulana Mohammed Haroon Hussain

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Towsir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

1 Civil Divorce in Islam (darul-ilm.co.uk)