What is the ruling when a man with three wives makes sequential conditional divorce statements tied to each other's potential divorce?
Chapter on Explicit Divorce and Others
Al-Mughni
Book of Divorce
Primary text
If a man states concerning his three wives (Zainab, Umrah, Hafsah): If Zainab is divorced, Umrah is divorced; if Umrah is divorced, Hafsah is divorced; and if Hafsah is divorced, Zainab is divorced. If he then divorces Zainab, Umrah is divorced, but Hafsah is not divorced by this action. This is because the divorce of Umrah was established by a previous condition (Zainab's divorce) and did not constitute a new act of divorce initiating Hafsah's conditional divorce. If he divorces Umrah, Hafsah is divorced, but Zainab is not divorced by this preceding condition. If he divorces Hafsah, Zainab is divorced, and then Umrah is divorced. In this final case, all three divorces occur because the act of divorcing Hafsah established the condition for Umrah's divorce. Since the condition for Umrah's divorce was established after the condition for Zainab's divorce was established by Hafsah's divorce, the divorce upon Zainab is considered an effective act of divorce, causing Umrah's divorce, unlike the previous scenarios.
Supporting text
If the man reverses the conditional statements, the outcome changes. If he says to Zainab: If I divorce Umrah, you are divorced. Then to Umrah: If I divorce Hafsah, you are divorced. Then to Hafsah: If I divorce Zainab, you are divorced. If he then divorces Zainab, all three are divorced: Zainab directly, Hafsah conditionally, and Umrah conditionally. The divorce of Hafsah resulting from the condition counts as an effective divorce upon her, which fulfills the condition for Umrah's divorce, thus divorcing her as well. This is established because the condition for Hafsah's divorce (divorcing Zainab) was established after the condition for Umrah's divorce (divorcing Hafsah) was established and fulfilled; the condition and its fulfillment both occurred subsequent to the condition placed upon Umrah's divorce.