Are the three consecutive divorces – one of which occurred via text message and the subsequent two over the phone during a fit of anger, knowing that the husband was in full control of his faculties – counted as a single divorce, and is there a possibility for the spouses to reconcile, especially after the wife has given birth to the child she was carrying at the time of the divorce?

The jurists differed regarding someone who pronounces two or three divorces together. The preponderant view is that only one divorce occurs, whether the pronouncement was with a single word or separate words. This is the opinion chosen by Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, Sheikh al-Sa'di, and Sheikh Ibn 'Uthaymeen, who based their argument on the hadith (definition) of Ibn 'Abbas which states that a triple divorce was considered a single divorce during the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, Abu Bakr, and for two years of 'Umar's caliphate.

These scholars also believe that divorce does not occur except after a return (to the marital relationship) or a new marriage contract. So, if a man divorces his wife and then divorces her again during her waiting period (iddah (definition)) without having reconciled with her, the second divorce does not occur. Accordingly, as long as the husband pronounced the second and third divorces during the waiting period of the first divorce, without having reconciled with his wife, nothing but the first divorce takes effect. He has the right to reconcile with his wife as long as she is within her waiting period, or to marry her with a new contract if her waiting period has ended by giving birth, and the previous divorce will be counted against him.