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Fatwa CenterThe Sunni Divorce
Question
What is the Sunni divorce?
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 Sunni divorce, i.e., the divorce which is valid according to all scholars, is when the husband divorces his wife in a period of purity (not menstruating) where he has not had sex with her, stating the divorce only one time. Then he leaves her until her ‘Iddah (the period that the divorced woman has to wait before getting married again) expires. This first divorce is then considered one irrevocable divorce only. The wife then becomes forbidden to her former husband until they re-marry with a new marriage contract and meeting all the conditions of any new marriage.
The divorce that does not conform with the Sunnah is any divorce that is not done in the way mentioned above. So, the divorce can be considered non-Sunni if the husband issues divorce to his wife in a period of purity when he has had sex with her, or that he issues divorce while she is menstruating, or that he divorces her three times at once. This kind of divorce is called innovative divorce. It is dislikable according to all scholars. But the scholars differ on whether or not such a divorce is valid and differ on its Sharee’ah effects.
For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 81487 and 81717.
Allah knows best.
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