What is the ruling on a husband repeatedly saying to his wife: "You are divorced by three" or "You are forbidden to me as my mother's back is forbidden to me" more than five times, and what is the ruling on the wife remaining in the house and uncovering her hair in front of a husband who refuses to divorce her or leave the house?

The husband's committing a grave error and transgressing the bounds of Allah by saying, "You are divorced by three," means that three divorces have occurred according to the majority of scholars. The woman then becomes irrevocably divorced (bainunah kubra), and she is not lawful for him until she marries another man, and that man divorces her, and her waiting period (iddah) expires. As for his saying, "You are forbidden to me as my mother's back is forbidden to me," this is an abhorrent and forbidden zihar (injurious assimilation). By this, the wife becomes forbidden until the husband expiates by fasting for sixty consecutive days, or feeding sixty needy people if he is unable to fast, based on the saying of Allah the Almighty: "And those who pronounce zihar against their wives and then wish to go back on what they said—then [there must be] the freeing of a slave before they touch one another. That is what you are admonished thereby; and Allah is acquainted with what you do. And he who does not find [a slave]—then a fast for two consecutive months before they touch one another. And he who is unable to fast—then the feeding of sixty needy people. That is so that you may believe in Allah and His Messenger. And these are the limits [set by] Allah. And for the disbelievers is a painful punishment." The wife should have separated from him after his saying, "You are divorced by three," because she became forbidden to him according to the majority of scholars. It is not permissible for her to allow him access to her, or to reside with him in seclusion, or to sit unveiled before him. She should resort to the Sharia court to resolve this matter.