بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
فَإِن طَلَّقَهَا فَلَا تَحِلُّ لَهُ ۥ مِنۢ بَعۡدُ حَتَّىٰ تَنكِحَ زَوۡجًا غَيۡرَهُ ۥۗ فَإِن طَلَّقَهَا فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيۡہِمَآ أَن يَتَرَاجَعَآ إِن ظَنَّآ أَن يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ ٱللَّهِۗ وَتِلۡكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ يُبَيِّنُہَا لِقَوۡمٍ۬ يَعۡلَمُونَ
“Thereafter, if he divorces her, she shall no longer remain lawful for him unless she marries a man other than him. Should he too divorce her, then there is no sin on them in their returning to each other, if they think they would maintain the limits set by Allah. These are the limits set by Allah that He makes clear to a people who know (that Allah is alone capable of setting these limits).” (230)
Ruling: If a person ends up pronouncing the third divorce, the transaction of marriage will stand annulled. He no longer as the option of raja (taking her back in the nikaah). He has transgressed the limits of Allah, by doing so, he will have the punishment of not being able to remarry his wife even if they both agree to such. In order to be able to get remarried, the women must complete her iddah from the divorce, should enter into a marriage with another man, and fulfill matrimonial obligations (have sexual intercourse). If by chance this husband also divorces her or dies, she can remarry the first husband after the completion of the iddah. This is called Halala. (Maarif Al Quran V1 pg 578)
Ruling: Above the phrase “by chance” was used because if a man marries a women on the condition that he will make her halal for the previous husband, then this act is detestable and the person marrying and the previous husband are both cursed by the Prophet ﷺ.(Abu Dawud 2076) In one hadith the Prophet ﷺ said “Should I not tell you of a borrowed Billy goat”, they said “yes, Oh Messenger of Allah”, he said, “He is the muhallil (the one who marries a women in order to divorce her so she can return to the first husband). May Allah curse the muhallil and muhallal lahu (the first husband for whom this is done)” (Ibn Majah 1936)
Ruling: For a Halala to be valid, the second husband must have intercourse with the woman. It was narrated from Ibn Umar RA from the Prophet ﷺ, concerning the man who had a wife, then divorced her, then another man married her, but divorced her before consummating the marriage, could she go back to the first man? He said, “no, not until he tastes her sweetness. “ (This means sexual intercourse) (Ibn Majah 1933, Bukhari 2639)
