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Fatwa CenterConfused about the number of divorces he had
Question
my question to you is that accepting a talaaq under false prediction does it count?according to my incidents below is it three talaqh's or two?
The incidents that happened are as follows:
1 - We had an argument, I told her that we needed time away and that she should go to her parent’s house. My intension was not to Talaqh her and I did not utter the word Talaqh. My wife took it as a talaaq.My wife told me that if you ask for a separation it is counted as a talaaq. After a while, we both sat down and talked about our problems and came to an understanding. She did not go to her parent’s house. We stayed together
2 - We had an argument, my intension was to Talaqh her, but I did not utter the word talaaq to her. We called in Moulana Simjee from ext 9 to confirm the talaaq.he told me if my intensions was talaaq it’s counted as one talaaq. He talked to the both of us. We came to an understanding made nikkah and we were back together.
3 - I found out some very disturbing news about her. I confronted her and she admitted it to me. We had a major argument. I did not know what to do coz my family said I must divorce her coz of what she did. My anger was so intense that I lost all power of reason and I gave her talaaq. I called for her parents and exchanged words with her father. Her mother told me that this is your last talaaq and there’s no coming back. I have accepted that because of my first incident what my wife told me. Please advise me what to do as I realised the importance of my wife and child and I want to make a home.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The consent of the husband to separate from his wife believing that divorce had taken place –while divorce did not take place –does not render divorce effective. Divorce is a very serious matter and it should not be taken carelessly. Besides, it takes place only in cases that are determined by the Sharee’ah.
In our view, according to the cases that you mentioned in the question your wife is only divorced once. Your statement in the first case “we needed time away…”, is one of the metaphors of divorce in which divorce does not take place except with intention. Since, you did not intend divorce, then divorce did not take place.
In the second case, your mere intention to divorce your wife without uttering the word divorce, does not lead to divorce according to the view of the majority of the scholars 
and the jurists stated that divorce does not take place except with the wording of divorce. Therefore, if one intends divorce in his heart without uttering it, this does not lead to divorce [divorce does not take place]. Hence, the Fatwa of the man whom you mentioned in the question is contrary to the statement of the majority of the scholars . Even if we presume that your wife is divorced with the intention of divorce, in this case you can still take her back as long as she is in her waiting period even without her consent. Taking her back does not need a contract because as long as she is in her waiting period, she is still considered your wife.
As regards the third case, claiming that you were very angry does not invalidate the divorce that you uttered unless your anger made you reach a state in which you have no will or knowledge of what you do or say, or that your actions or words became irrational contrarily to your normal nature, so in this case divorce does not take place because you became like a mad person or a coerced person. In which case the Prophetic narration that is narrated by ‘Aa’ishah 
who heard the Prophet saying: “There is no divorce in case of Ighlaaq”. [Ahmad]; applies to you. [The word “Ighlaaq” means everything that prevents perception, will and consciousness.]
For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 121374 and 83467. In these Fataawa there are details about divorce in case of anger in its three cases.
To conclude, it is permissible for you to take back your wife based on what you mentioned as divorce absolutely did not take place in two cases from the three cases you mentioned in the question, and there is a probability (that it took place) in the third case and you should have known the details about it from the Fataawa to which we referred you above.
Allaah Knows best.
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