Is Triple Talaq Valid in Islam ?

It is a practice of saying talaq 3 times in one go and thus getting the wife divorced. It was the method of Arabs before the advent of Prophet Muhammad. The Prophet of Islam reformed the society of social evils as the Allah sent the relevant Quranic revelations, this also included the practice of saying talaq thrice in one go and obtaining talaq.

Once a person by the name of Rukanah pronounced three divorces against his wife but later he was sorry for it. Prophet Mohammed asked him how he divorced, Rukanah replied that he had pronounced three divorces. The Prophet asked if he had pronounced it in one sitting, he replied in affirmative. Noble Prophet told that he should treat it as one talaq and that he can take back his wife(2202, Kitab Al-Talaq' of Sunan Abu-Dawud), this clearly shows that their is no existence of any such thing in Islam as Triple Talaq. This change in the traditional Arab Practice of saying talaq thrice in one go was brought about by the revelation as mentioned in Holy Quran in aytaats 4:35 and 2:229-230. The former ayat tells muslims to bring in methods for conciliation like mutual discussion and arbitration etc before taking the extreme step and the later one starts with ‘Al-talaqu marratan’, i.e., divorce may be pronounced twice.The word marratan implies a gap between two pronouncements which means there should be a large enough time-gap between the two pronouncements of divorce.  Marratan (twice) itself carries this sense.  When somebody says that I have eaten Hyderabadi biryani twice, it doesn’t mean that he has eaten two plates on the same meal, it means on two different occasions.

Now the question arises how this bidat (Innovation to actual Islamic principal) practice came to be associated with Islam. During the Caliphate of Umar, Arabs conquered areas of Egypt and Syria. Muslims came into contact with the women from these lands, captivated by their beauty they sent marriage proposals but these women told them to first divorce their existing wives. To satisfy these women they simply started pronouncing talaq thrice to their wives thus pretending that they had divorced however in reality they had not. This made the Caliph issue the decree that in such cases even if the three divorces were pronounced in one go the talaq would be final and husbands would have to pay the Maher amount to their wives and they would then have no claim over their wives.

This need not be mentioned that the Muslims are required to follow the teachings of Holy Quran and Hadith rather then the rule imposed by a Caliph over his people to prevent them from deceiving the women. The rule or the law was for people of his time whereas the Quran and Hadith are applicable for all times and all people. Almost all the Islamic Scholars whether belonging to  Ahlehadis, Shia, Hanfi or any other school of thought agree that this practice is either Haram or Bidat so muslims must not allow this to corrupt their society. 

Yasser Iqbal Kidwai