Is Our Divorce Reversible? (Shafi’i)

Answered by Shaykh Abdurragmaan Khan

Question: Assalam alaykum,

One month into our marriage during an argument, my husband said “I divorce you” in anger and without intent. He even forgot he said it almost right after. He did not verbally take me back but we lived together for a few months. Five months later, in another argument, he texted me to say “My decision to divorce you is final” and the next day said “I divorce you” three times. Are we divorced once or irreversibly?

Answer: Wa alaykum al-Salam

Please study this answer.

Accordingly, the first divorce of your husband will be valid, whether he was angry or not, intended it or not. Thereafter, you have confirmed that he did not formally take you back as a wife. If this is the case, and your iddah or waiting period ended – which is the completion of three clean periods – you are no longer considered his wife. If he divorces you thereafter, those divorces are not considered valid. If you wish to continue a relationship with him, you would have to perform a new Nikah or marriage.

And Allah knows best

Wassalam
[Shaykh] Abdurragmaan Khan

Shaykh Abdurragmaan received ijazah ’ammah from various luminaries, including but not restricted to: Habib Umar ibn Hafiz—a personality who affected him greatly and who has changed his relationship with Allah, Maulana Yusuf Karaan—the former Mufti of Cape Town; Habib ‘Ali al-Mashhur—the current Mufti of Tarim; Habib ‘Umar al-Jaylani—the Shafi‘i Mufti of Makkah; Sayyid Ahmad bin Abi Bakr al-Hibshi; Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf; Shaykh Mahmud Sa’id Mamduh; Maulana Abdul Hafiz al-Makki; Shaykh Ala ad-Din al-Afghani; Maulana Fazlur Rahman al-Azami and Shaykh Yahya al-Gawthani amongst others.