What is the ruling on a man who says to his wife, “You are divorced three times”?

Question:
If a man says, “You are divorced three times,” is it obligatory?

Answer:
This is a matter of disagreement among the scholars. Some say that the three divorces take effect with a single phrase, and that it is forbidden for him to do so; the divorce takes effect along with the sin, just as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) counted the divorce pronounced during menstruation as valid along with the sin. Thus, the three divorces are counted along with the sin, making it a forbidden divorce, but it still takes effect. This is the position of the majority of the scholars. However, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, and the group held that the three divorces in a single phrase count as one divorce. But this opinion is the weaker one. Yes, and if a scholar among the distinguished scholars issues a fatwa to this effect, it is still the weaker opinion. Yes, because what 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) ruled during his caliphate was that the three divorces take effect with a single phrase, and he was the Rightly Guided Caliph. Yes.