A man divorced his wife three times in one sitting, then said to her in the same sitting, "You are forbidden to me like my mother." Is the expiation for zihar obligatory upon him, or what?

The questioner : In his third question, he says: A man said to his wife, "You are divorced with three divorces," and after a period of time, he said to her, "You are forbidden to me like my mother," and he had not divorced her before, and he was not angry.

The Shaykh : How had he not divorced her before? You say: "Divorced three times."

The questioner : ... He divorced her, then ... .

Another questioner : A man divorced his wife in one sitting, saying, "You are divorced with three divorces." After that, the problems between them increased, so he said to her, "You are forbidden to me like my mother."

The Shaykh : In the same sitting?

The questioner : In the same sitting, and there was no prior divorce upon her other than this sitting.

The Shaykh : ... In a different sitting, there is no divorce. Fine.

The questioner : He divorced ... .

Another questioner : She was pregnant in the ninth month.

The Shaykh : No, pregnancy is not the operative cause in this matter. Now, we assume two things. I say: This divorce is either effective or not effective. If it is effective, she is divorced, and the second ruling, which is zihar, does not apply to her. However, if this divorce is not effective, then zihar proceeds; because we do not envision the ruling of zihar failing to take effect, as is the case with divorce. So, this answer is called conditional, meaning that this zihar may occur if the divorce does not occur, but it does not occur if the divorce does occur. Here, a final question may arise: Did this divorce occur or not?

Another questioner : It occurred. His intention was to divorce her, meaning when ... he got angry, there were problems between them, and he was forced to divorce her. Then ... an insult came to him, so he said to her, "You are also forbidden to me like my mother."

The Shaykh : I am saying ... that I do not know how the incident happened.

Another questioner : The incident is exactly like that.

The Shaykh : If the divorce occurred, then that [zihar] does not occur.

Another questioner : May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : And you.