A Man Divorced His Wife Three Times and Still Living With Her
30-9-2018 | IslamWeb
Question:
Aslamualaikum , have a good day.Waqar Ahmad gave divorce to his wife 3 time verbly and written also in 2014 so his wife went her mother home with all kids , he did not "Rajuh" his wife witten the 90 days but after he said , I want to live with my wife because I love her , all his family said that its not your wife now because they got 3 fatwa against Waqar Ahmad that divorce had effected so they said don't live with her it's a big sin but he say I don't care.After then still he is living with that woman from last 4 years , whom he gave divorce and then born a baby in 2017 also, now it's 2018 they are living togather , what is the status for them or punishment according to Islamic law.Please tell me , hope you will reply soon thank you . May Allah bless you.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The ruling on the relationship between that man and his wife, and whether or not it is a forbidden relationship by the agreement of the scholars or it is a relationship upon which the scholars differed in opinion, depends on knowing the reality of these divorces; we mean whether the wife ended her ‘Iddah (waiting period) between one divorce and another divorce that is issued afterwards, and whether or not she was in menses at the time of divorce?
Therefore, we cannot issue a ruling on their relationship that you mentioned as the correct ruling depends on knowing the reality as we have already mentioned.
However, in general terms, we can say the following for a benefit:
If a man divorces his wife three valid divorces, then she becomes irrevocably divorced from him and forbidden to him, and she does not become lawful for him again unless she marries another man as Allah Says (what means): {And if he has divorced her [for the third time], then she is not lawful to him afterward until [after] she marries a husband other than him.} [Quran 2:230]
Then, if the second husband divorces her after having consummated the marriage with her, and her ‘Iddah (waiting period) expires, then it becomes permissible for the first husband to marry her again with a new contract, exactly like the first one.
However, if her first husband takes her back (marries her again) before this, then he has indeed committed a great evil and what happens between them is Zina (adultery) –we seek refuge in Allah from that.
It is obligatory on those who know their case to forbid them from this evil and enjoin them to separate from each other and repent. If they do not do so, then it becomes obligatory to take their case to the ruler to separate between them.
Sharh Mukhtasar Khaleel, authored by al-Khurashi, reads:
"If the right is exclusively related to Allah, and it is something that is continuously forbidden, then it is an obligation on the witness to take the initiative to give testimony to the ruler as much as possible." An example of this is his saying: "Or he knows the divorce of a woman and the one who divorced her [three times] has sexual intercourse with her in a forbidden manner." [End of quote]
Whatever the case may be, they both should be advised by asking the scholars or going to a Muslim judge. Then if he [Muslim judge] issues a ruling that the bond of marriage between them is still valid, then there is no harm in this case, if it becomes clear to him that the divorce that you mentioned did not take place, or that some divorces did not take place, due to the existence of any impediment and other things that may be evident to the judge that the bond of marriage between them is still valid.
However, if he issues a ruling that the divorce was valid and that the woman is forbidden for him, then they must both repent to Allah and stop disobeying Him.
There are a number of rulings that will arise from their case, which we cannot deal with in this Fatwa.
Allah knows best.