Is divorce valid for a woman who is pregnant?

Question: This is a letter that was not signed; rather, its sender omitted his name and the date as well. He says: He has a case, which is: Is it permissible to divorce a pregnant woman, meaning, is she divorced while she is pregnant? Please inform us, may Allah reward you with good, and I ask the presenters of the program not to neglect my letter.
Your letter, O listener, has been presented and not neglected, but we ask that you include your name in future letters, and that you include the date of the letter as well.

Answer:
This issue occurs for some of the common people; some of the common people think that divorce does not take effect on a pregnant woman. I do not know where this belief came from, and it has no basis in the words of the scholars. It has no basis. Rather, what the people of knowledge are unanimously upon is that divorce does take effect on a pregnant woman. This is a point of consensus among the people of knowledge; there is no disagreement in it. The divorce of a pregnant woman is either a Sunnah or it is not a Sunnah and not an innovation.
So the result is: that divorce takes effect on her. And it is established from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said to Ibn 'Umar when he divorced his wife during her menstruation, he ordered him to hold her until she menstruates and then becomes pure. He said: , so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made the divorce of a pregnant woman of the same kind as the divorce of a woman who is pure and has not been touched.

In conclusion: That the divorce of a pregnant woman is a matter with no harm in it, rather it is a Sunnah according to the stronger position, meaning her divorce is a Sunnah, not an innovation. The only thing prohibited is divorcing her while she is in the state we are pointing out: the menstruating woman and the woman with post-natal bleeding. So as long as she is in a state of menstruation or post-natal bleeding, it is not permissible for a Muslim to divorce her, meaning it is not permissible for her husband to divorce her. Rather, he should hold her until she becomes pure, and then if he wishes, he divorces her, and if he wishes, he holds her. As for his divorcing her while she is menstruating or has post-natal bleeding, that is not allowed; because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) became angry with Ibn 'Umar when he divorced his wife while she was menstruating.
And likewise, if he divorces her during a period of purity in which he has touched her; because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: regarding His saying, the Exalted: [Al-Talaq:1]. The scholars said: Its meaning is: pure women without intercourse. This is the meaning of divorce for the waiting period: that he divorces her while she is pure and he has not touched her, or she is pregnant and her pregnancy has become apparent. This is the place of the Sunnah: divorcing the woman in two states:

One of them is: That she is pregnant—meaning: carrying a child—so her divorce is a Sunnah, not an innovation.

The second state: That she is pure and her husband has not touched her; she has become pure from her menstruation or post-natal bleeding before he touched her. If this is the case, then this divorce is a Sunnah in this state.
As for the innovative divorce, it has three states:
Divorcing the menstruating woman... this is one.
Divorcing the woman with post-natal bleeding... two.
Divorcing the woman in her state of purity after touching her, after he has had intercourse with her.
This is an innovation that should not occur. The husband should refrain from divorce in this state until she menstruates and then becomes pure before he touches her, and then he divorces her.
And the wisdom in that—and Allah knows best—is that the Lawgiver wants to prevent divorce and desires the continuation of the marriage because of the good and benefits in it. For this reason, He narrowed the path to it, making the woman in her state of menstruation or post-natal bleeding, or in a period of purity in which he touched her, not a place for divorce, so that he holds her. Perhaps the situation will improve after that, and perhaps harmony will be achieved after that, so that divorce does not occur. He does not divorce her except in one of two states:

One of them is: That she is pregnant.

The second: That she is in a period of purity in which he has not touched her.
In this state, she is generally not divorced; because he desires her. When she becomes pure, he desires to have intercourse with her, and if he has intercourse with her, he is prohibited from divorcing her until she remains with him. Likewise, a pregnant woman has no barriers to intercourse, and she is suitable for intercourse at all times, so he generally does not desire to divorce her. Also, because he hopes for the offspring of this pregnancy, hoping to see it and raise it, he thereby refrains from divorce. This is from the mercy of Allah to His servants , that He made divorce in these two states: the state of purity without intercourse, and the state of pregnancy, so that he does not divorce her. Because if divorce is in these two states, the general rule is that divorce does not occur in these two states; because after purity, he longs to have intercourse with her after being prevented from her for days during her menstruation or post-natal bleeding. He longs to have intercourse with her, and if he has intercourse with her, he is prohibited from divorcing her until she menstruates again and becomes pure.

In fact: If the husband considers this prescribed matter, then by that, divorce decreases and holding the wife increases. The Lawgiver desires the continuation of the marriage because of the many benefits that follow from it. ; because it separates the man from his family, and it causes a lot of harm to the children. The husband may also be delayed in remarrying, and the woman may be delayed in remarrying after that. So the result is: that divorce has disadvantages. For this reason, Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, legislated the causes for the continuation of the marriage so that the man remains preserving his wife and benefiting from her, and the woman remains in the protection of her husband in these states in which we have explained that he does not divorce: the state of menstruation, the state of post-natal bleeding, and the state of purity in which he has had intercourse with her. In these three states, he does not divorce, and divorce is not permissible for him in them.
And by this, divorce decreases and holding the wife increases, and this is from the mercy and kindness of Allah to His servants (Exalted and Majestic is He). Yes.

The presenter: So the issue is the opposite of what this questioner and those like him imagine?

The Shaykh: Yes, the opposite, yes.

The presenter: May Allah reward you.