Continuation of the ways of exiting marriage and the conditions of divorce.

The Shaykh : He divorces her while she is menstruating and it does not concern him. This is a mistake, a great mistake. Then he goes to the doors of the scholars and says: Give me a ruling. This opinion—meaning the opinion that divorce during menstruation does not take effect—was abandoned and unknown to the people in these lands until the fatwa appeared and it spread that divorce during menstruation does not take effect. So the common husband who does not know his head from his tail, if he divorces during menstruation, comes to seek a ruling and says: I divorced her during menstruation. The mufti says to him: Then the divorce has taken effect on you. He says: How can it take effect when I divorced her during menstruation? And divorce during menstruation does not take effect. He is a common, ignorant person. But because he had a share of his soul in this issue, what happened? He became a scholar who argues with students of knowledge. The important thing is: do not be negligent regarding divorce during menstruation. And I, although I hold the view that it does not take effect, I see that the person is in danger, because the entire Ummah and the Imams of the Ummah hold that it takes effect, except for a very few. Therefore, in this gathering, all those who answered said: It takes effect. And one of them said: It does not take effect. So you have exemplified the disagreement of the scholars exactly. Most of you say: It takes effect. Good. As for me, if a person comes to me and says: I divorced my wife during menstruation in the year , then I divorced her with a valid divorce in the year , then I divorced her with a valid divorce in the year . How many divorces? How many divorces? Three. He comes to seek my ruling, and I hold the view that divorce during menstruation does not take effect. Do I say: Your first divorce did not take effect, and you have the right to take her back? Personally, I do not issue a ruling like this. I say: Your first divorce took effect. The evidence: If she had married another man after her waiting period from the first divorce ended, would her husband who divorced her come to the man and say: You have now made my wife lawful? Answer, everyone. He would never come. So, what I hold is that if the man who divorced during menstruation comes during the waiting period, I say here: Your divorce has not taken effect, and the wife is in your possession, because she has not become lawful to another now. But after the waiting period has ended and he regrets and comes wanting to invalidate the first one, I do not rule that it did not take effect. I say: It took effect. And it is counted against you from the divorces. Pay attention to the plan I followed, emulating 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) when he obligated the people regarding the taking effect of the three grouped divorces when they violated the sanctities of Allah and became not to care about the three grouped divorces. Some of the previous scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) pointed to this issue and said: If a man divorces his wife with the third divorce, pay attention! He comes saying: One of the witnesses to the marriage contract is not just, not just, an open sinner. For what? For what? To invalidate the contract, because they are not just witnesses. And if the contract is invalidated, the divorce based on the contract is invalidated. So it is not counted against him. Look at this man—and I seek refuge in Allah—he follows his desires. When he was making his wife lawful and having intercourse with her day and night, was the witness to the contract just or not just? He was just. And when his means became narrow, now he is not just. He played with this, he played with the verses of Allah the Mighty and Majestic. I say: Some contemporary scholars mentioned this in some of their printed answers a while ago. In any case, do not divorce during menstruation.
Second: Do not divorce a woman with whom intercourse has occurred during a period of purity in which intercourse took place, unless she is pregnant. Did you understand my words? Go, man. Do not divorce during a period of purity in which intercourse took place, unless she is pregnant, then there is no harm. Why? Because if he had intercourse and then divorced after the intercourse, by what would she observe the waiting period? Would she observe it by pregnancy or by menstruation? No, if you say: By pregnancy, we say: No, because it is possible she did not become pregnant. If you say: By menstruation, go, man, we say: No, she does not observe the waiting period by menstruation, because it is possible she became pregnant. Pay attention to the great rulings in the Islamic Shari'ah! If he divorces during a period of purity in which intercourse took place, it is forbidden. In a period of purity in which intercourse took place, it is not forbidden? This is forbidden. Give the reason, man, give the reason, give the reason? Because he did not divorce for a certain waiting period. It is possible she is pregnant, so her waiting period is the delivery of the child, and it is possible she did not become pregnant, so her waiting period is by menstruation. When this became possible, this became invalid, meaning it became forbidden, it became forbidden, because Allah the Exalted said: . And if we do not know whether her waiting period is that of a pregnant woman or that of a non-pregnant woman, we have not counted the waiting period. And Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: .
So when is it forbidden to divorce a woman with whom intercourse has occurred? When is it forbidden, man? If she is menstruating, or in a period of purity in which intercourse took place, this is forbidden. Good. If she is in a period of purity in which intercourse did not take place, the divorce is permissible. If she is pregnant, the divorce is valid, whether he had intercourse with her or not, and whether he performed the ritual bath from the intercourse or not. Good. As for a woman with whom intercourse has not occurred, if he divorces her while she is menstruating—a man contracted a woman and intercourse is after a month, during this period he divorces her—does she have a waiting period or not? Yes. Is it forbidden or lawful? Lawful. Why? Because she does not have a waiting period, and Allah the Exalted said: complete . So if he divorces her before intercourse and seclusion, there is no waiting period, and he can divorce whenever he wishes, even if she is menstruating.
If he divorces her while she is experiencing post-natal bleeding, is it lawful or forbidden? Lawful, because he divorced for the waiting period, since the woman experiencing post-natal bleeding, if she is divorced, begins the waiting period from the time of the divorce. So he divorced for what? For the waiting period.
So if someone brings to us a person and says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said to 'Umar: He said: Pure? We say: He is addressing a man who divorced his wife during? During menstruation. And the meaning is: Pure from menstruation, not pure in the absolute sense. And on this basis, divorce during post-natal bleeding is permissible and is not an innovated divorce. And it is effective, because if he divorces her in this state, he divorced for the waiting period.
And now the time for the adhan has come, and after that the questions until the time for the iqamah comes, if Allah wills, the Mighty and Majestic.

The questioner : May Allah reward the honorable Shaykh with the best reward and benefit us all with what we heard.