What is the ruling on sequential divorces when a conditional statement ties the divorce of co-wives to each other?

Chapter on Explicit Divorce and Others

Al-Mughni

Book of Divorce

Book 39 · Issue 4 · Bab 2

Open in Qurani

Primary text

If a man divorces Hafsah (the third wife in a sequence where divorce of one causes divorce of the others), she is divorced three times. She is divorced once directly, causing her co-wives to be divorced. The resulting divorce upon each co-wife counts as an initiating divorce upon her, because it occurred by a condition he established after conditioning their divorce upon his direct divorce of another. Thus, each co-wife's divorce results in one divorce back upon Hafsah, completing three divorces for her. Umrah is divorced twice: once due to Hafsah's direct divorce, and again due to the resulting divorce upon Zainab, which counts as an initiating divorce upon Umrah based on previous reasoning. Zainab is divorced only once because the conditional divorce of her co-wife does not count as an initiating divorce in her case.

Supporting text

If he divorces the second wife (Umrah in the previous scenario's context), she is divorced twice, the first wife (Zainab) three times, and the third wife (Hafsah) once.