Regarding The Divorce According To The Sunnah Sunan Abi Dawud 2180
Arabic hadith text
حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا اللَّيْثُ، عَنْ نَافِعٍ، أَنَّ ابْنَ عُمَرَ، طَلَّقَ امْرَأَةً لَهُ وَهِيَ حَائِضٌ تَطْلِيقَةً بِمَعْنَى حَدِيثِ مَالِكٍ
Translation
Ibn 'Umar divorced a wife of his while she was menstruating, with a single divorce, in a manner similar to the meaning of the hadith of Malik.
Commentary on Divorce During Menstruation
From Sunan Abi Dawud 2180, this narration describes Ibn 'Umar divorcing his wife while she was in her menstrual period, pronouncing a single divorce. The classical scholars explain this as an action contrary to the Sunnah, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) prohibited divorcing women during their menses.
Legal Ruling and Wisdom
The majority of scholars hold that such a divorce is considered irregular (bid'ī) but nevertheless valid and counts toward the triple divorce. The wisdom behind this prohibition is to avoid extending the waiting period unnecessarily, as the menstrual period does not count toward the 'iddah.
Scholars like Imam Malik and Imam al-Shafi'i maintained that the husband must take his wife back and wait until she becomes pure from menstruation, then divorces her properly if he still wishes to do so.
Scholarly Consensus
There is consensus among the four schools of jurisprudence that divorcing a menstruating woman is forbidden, based on the clear prohibition in authentic hadith. However, they differ on whether such a divorce takes effect, with the predominant opinion being that it does count as one divorce.