الطَّلَاقُ مَرَّتَانِ فَإِمْسَاكٌ بِمَعْرُوفٍ أَوْ تَسْرِيحٌ بِإِحْسَانٍ وَلَا يَحِلُّ لَكُمْ أَنْ تَأْخُذُوا مِمَّا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ شَيْئًا إِلَّا أَنْ يَخَافَا أَلَّا يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا فِيمَا افْتَدَتْ بِهِ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ فَلَا تَعْتَدُوهَا وَمَنْ يَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ ﴿۲۲۹﴾ فَإِنْ طَلَّقَهَا فَلَا تَحِلُّ لَهُ مِنْ بَعْدُ حَتَّى تَنْكِحَ زَوْجًا غَيْرَهُ فَإِنْ طَلَّقَهَا فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا أَنْ يَتَرَاجَعَا إِنْ ظَنَّا أَنْ يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ اللَّهِ وَتِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ يُبَيِّنُهَا لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿۲۳۰﴾
﴾229﴿ Divorce (revocable) is twice, then it is either retention in a good manner or release with kindness.
And it is not lawful for you to take back anything from what you have given them, unless both fear that they cannot uphold the limits set by Allah.
Then if you both fear that they cannot uphold the limits of Allah, there is no sin upon either of them in what she gives as compensation (to be released).
These are the limits set by Allah, so do not transgress them.
And whoever transgresses the limits set by Allah—then they are the wrongdoers.
﴾230﴿
﴾229﴿ Divorce (revocable) is twice, then it is either retention in a good manner or release with kindness.
And it is not lawful for you to take back anything from what you have given them, unless both fear that they cannot uphold the limits set by Allah.
Then if you both fear that they cannot uphold the limits of Allah, there is no sin upon either of them in what she gives as compensation (to be released).
These are the limits set by Allah, so do not transgress them.
And whoever transgresses the limits set by Allah—then they are the wrongdoers.
﴾230﴿ Then if he divorces her (i.e., the third divorce), she is not lawful for him afterward until she marries another husband.
Then if he (the second husband) divorces her, there is no sin upon the two of them to return to each other (in marriage) if they believe they can uphold the limits set by Allah.
And these are the limits of Allah, which He makes clear for a people who know.
[229] In the time of ignorance, there was no limit to the number of divorces, so the Qur'an refuted that.
This verse also mentions khul‘, where the woman returns the dowry to her husband and he releases her.
(Maratān)—“twice in succession”—indicates that the proper method is to give one divorce in one period of purity, and the second in another period of purity.
(Fa-im’sāk) means returning to her during the waiting period.
(Aw tasrīḥ) refers to not returning, or to giving the third divorce in a different period of purity.
(Wa lā yaḥillu lakum an ta’khudhū)—this is a rejection of the pre-Islamic practice, similarly stated in verse 20 of Surah An-Nisāʾ.
(Mimmā ātaytumūhunna shayʾā)—most commentators interpret this as referring to the dowry, while Ibn ‘Arabi includes everything the husband gave the wife beyond the dowry.
(Fa-in khiftum)—similar to the reconciliation ruling in verse 35 of Surah An-Nisāʾ; here, the address is to the arbitrators.
(Fīmā if’tadat)—this refers to the dowry the woman willingly returns to the husband in exchange for being released through khul‘.
(Tilka ḥudūd Allāh)—this refers to the proper methods of divorce mentioned, indicating that the third divorce should be separate and not all three at once, and it should be during a period of purity.
[230] This verse mentions the third divorce, indicated by the word fa (then), meaning that after the third divorce, the woman is not lawful for her previous husband without lawful re-marriage (taḥlīl).
Deceptive methods of making her lawful again are forbidden, and in the hadith, both the one who arranges and the one who undergoes such a scheme (muḥallil and muḥallal lahu) are cursed.
According to the hadith of Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him), narrated by Muslim, and the hadith of Rukānah, narrated in Musnad Aḥmad, the sunnah of the Prophet (May Allah bless him and give him peace), of Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), and of the first two years of ʿUmar’s caliphate (may Allah be pleased with him) was that if three divorces were given at once, it was counted as one revocable divorce.
(Ḥattā tankiḥa)—this means actual intercourse; and according to authentic hadiths, consummation of marriage with the second husband is a condition.
(In ẓannā an yuqīmā)—"if they think" is used because certain knowledge of the future is not possible for humans.