Ruling on: “You are divorced three times, interspersed with revocation (rajʿah)”

Answer: What the scholars of the madhhab mean is that one who revokes his wife without intending reconciliation—or in order to harm her—is sinful and disobedient to Allah; yet the revocation is valid, even if he is sinful. This is agreed upon. They likely ruled thus because a husband’s intention to harm by revocation is something hidden that usually cannot be ascertained or uncovered, since people are disposed to conceal such matters about themselves.
As for one who divorces three times “interspersed with revocation,” there is no harm upon the wife therein except like the harm of a single divorce. The husband’s aim and intention in such a divorce may well be major separation and completely cutting ties for purposes other than harming—such as protecting himself from her harm or ill fortune.
It may be that his desire for her is slight; and if he were to divorce her once, intermediaries might mediate and he would take her back out of embarrassment.
What appears to me in this issue is that only one divorce takes effect in such a case—not because of the element of harm, but because in ruling it is one divorce.
Explanation: Divorce is the dissolution of the marriage bond—by a single utterance or by multiple utterances—whether the wording is absolute or restricted. His statement, “You are divorced three times, interspersed with revocation,” imposes two restrictions upon the divorce: three, and interspersed with revocation. The marriage bond is thus dissolved thereby, and the two restrictions are nullified.
The first restriction is nullified because he has only sent her away from his bond once, while Allah Most High has granted the husband that he may send his wife away three times.
The second restriction’s invalidity follows upon the invalidity of the first; for if only a single divorce occurs thereby, the conditioning by three is void. Allah Most High said: “Divorce is twice.” [Al-Baqarah:229]—and this man has only divorced once.
“You are divorced three times interspersed with revocation”: the meaning yielded by this phrase from a linguistic standpoint is that the three divorces are described as entering into the revocation—i.e., parts of the three divorces enter into parts of the revocation. This would entail that revocation precedes divorce in existence—or, at the very least, coincides with it.
We say this because he has created a divorce described by an attribute that is present in the divorce he has created; yet divorce and revocation are mutually incompatible and cannot coincide in a single instant, nor can they both be enacted at the same time for a single wife—especially since the word revocation here is singular, from which only one revocation is understood.
If we look at “three times interspersed with revocation” from a customary (ʿurfī) standpoint—not from strict linguistic designation—it may be intended that the three divorces are described as the revocation intervening among them. This meaning is the reverse of the linguistic meaning; there is a difference between “the three are interspersed by the revocation” and “the revocation is interspersed by the three.” They likely intend this latter meaning; for it is the revocation that comes between the three, not the three that come between the revocation. Do you not see that the first and third divorces are not interposed by revocation?
On either construction, initiating a divorce described as interspersed with revocation is inconceivable—due to the incompatibility between divorce and revocation. Based on that, the revocation [as embedded in the formula] is not valid; for one cannot create a divorce that, from the moment of its issuance, is qualified by revocation.
- If we suppose the intended meaning of “You are divorced three times, interspersed with revocation,” is: “You are divorced three times with a revocation between every two divorces,” or “after every divorce there is a revocation,” or “You are divorced three times and I am revoking after every divorce,” or “My revocation for you is established after every divorce”—this is not acceptable. That is because the phrase “You are divorced three times, interspersed with revocation” is an enactive (inshāʾ) utterance intended to effect a divorce followed by revocation, then a divorce followed by revocation, then a divorce with no revocation—all by a single utterance, a single intention, and at a single time. That is unacceptable and inconceivable, because:
— Divorce and revocation do not combine at a single time; he cannot establish revocation at the very time he establishes divorce.
— It is not valid to say he “established revocation after divorce in his intention,” because what he uttered with his tongue is a divorce restricted by attributes of a kind that, as a legal matter, enter into the very quiddity of the divorce—so that what he has effected is a divorce whose very nature is composed of divorce, three, and revocation.
A divorce whose nature or attribute is such is inconceivable and unacceptable. In that case, the restrictions are nullified and the ruling of an intelligible divorce is affirmed—as if the restrictions had not been mentioned.
This is in addition to:
1. Such a divorce is a ploy to nullify Allah’s wisdom in what He has legislated of divorce and revocation.
2. The populace utter such a formula without knowing its intended meaning.
3. The general public, when formulating such wording, almost never intend revocation after each divorce.
Yes, a similar issue is their statement about one who says: “You are divorced three times for the Sunnah.” We object to them as follows:
Triple divorce in a single issuance—as in “You are divorced three times”—is an innovated, forbidden bidʿah, not loved by Allah nor His Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace).
The divorce is valid and the addition—his saying “three times”—is void. The addition “for the Sunnah” has the same purport as “interspersed with revocation”; the discussion regarding it is the same as the discussion regarding that.
Source : Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.1