Ruling on one who pronounces triple divorce and zihar at the same time

This is a message we received from the questioner Ahmad Sayyid Hazin, from the Arab Republic of Egypt, residing in Iraq. He says: I swore to my wife, pronouncing triple divorce, that she should leave my house and be forbidden to me like my mother and my sister, with the prior intention of divorcing her. She actually left the house and went to her family. After a period of time, she returned to the house through her family, without my knowledge, and up to now I have not had marital relations with her. Please advise us, may Allah reward you.
Answer: As long as you intended by this to divorce her and separate from her, then this divorce takes effect as one divorce, if it was with the wording you mentioned. You said: “Divorced three times.” It takes effect as one divorce according to the correct opinion of the scholars. You have the right to take her back as long as she is in the waiting period. You say: “I have taken back my wife so-and-so,” and this is sufficient. The Sunnah is that this be done in the presence of two witnesses. You say this in the presence of two righteous Muslim men. You say: “I have taken back my wife so-and-so,” and this is sufficient, if you had not divorced her twice before this. If you had not done anything before this of two divorces, then this counts as one. If you had done one before this, then this is the second, and you have the right to take her back. If you had done two before this, then this is the third, and there is no taking back, as long as you intended by this to divorce her and separate from her completely and expel her from your house divorced. And when she returns to you, because this divorce was preceded by two divorces, you also have to pay the expiation for zihar, because you also forbade her. So you have to pay the expiation for zihar before you approach her, before you touch her. The expiation for zihar is: freeing a slave woman or a slave, if that is facilitated for the sake of Allah. If you cannot do that, you fast two consecutive months for this zihar. If you are unable to do that due to your circumstances, then you have to feed sixty poor people. You have to feed sixty poor people when you are unable to fast, meaning: sixty poor people from the poor Muslims, you give them thirty sa’ (a dry measure of about 3 kg), each sa’ is divided between two, and the sa’ is four handfuls with the full, moderate hands, each handful is a mudd (a quarter of a sa’), and the four sa’ is the sa’ of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the fullness of the moderate, full hands, and this is well known. Or you clothe them, clothing for each one, giving each a shirt or an izar (lower garment) and a rida’ (upper garment), or you free a slave or a slave woman. But this comes first if you are unable to... The point in this is that there is only feeding, there is no clothing; the clothing is in the expiation for an oath. The point is that you have to feed sixty poor people, each poor person gets only half a sa’, and its amount by weight is approximately one and a half kilograms of the staple food of the country, whether dates, rice, wheat, or corn if that is the staple food of the country, or barley if that was the staple food of the country, this is sufficient, before you touch her, before you approach her, if you are unable to fast and to free a slave. This is regarding the zihar. As for the divorce, you have learned that it takes effect as one divorce, and you have the right to take her back during her waiting period. If she has exited the waiting period, then a new marriage contract is necessary with the conditions considered valid by the Shari’ah. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah bless you and reward you with good.