Jami’ al-Tirmidhi – Hadith No : 1230

Hisham bin Urwah narrated from his father, from Aishah that she said: “The people were such that a man would divorce his wife when he wanted to divorce her, and she remained his wife when he wanted to take her back while she was in her Iddah, and he could divorce a hundred times, or even more, such that a man could say to his wife: ‘By Allah! I will neither divorce you irrevocably, nor give you residence ever!’ She would say: ‘And how is that?’ He would say: ‘I will divorce you, and whenever your Iddah is just about to end I will take you back. So a woman went to Aishah to inform her about that, and Aishah was silent until the Prophet came. So she told him and the Prophet was silent, until the Qur’an was revealed: Divorce is two times, after that, retain her on reasonable terms or release her with kindness.'” So Aishah said: “So the people could carry on with divorce in the future, (knowing) who was divorced, and who was not divorced.”

Hadith In Arabic Text :

حدثنا قتيبة، حدثنا يعلى بن شبيب، عن هشام بن عروة، عن أبيه، عن عائشة، قالت كان الناس والرجل يطلق امرأته ما شاء أن يطلقها وهي امرأته إذا ارتجعها وهي في العدة وإن طلقها مائة مرة أو أكثر حتى قال رجل لامرأته والله لا أطلقك فتبيني مني ولا آويك أبدا ‏.‏ قالت وكيف ذاك قال أطلقك فكلما همت عدتك أن تنقضي راجعتك ‏.‏ فذهبت المرأة حتى دخلت على عائشة فأخبرتها فسكتت عائشة حتى جاء النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فأخبرته فسكت النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم حتى نزل القرآن ‏:‏ ‏(‏ الطلاق مرتان فإمساك بمعروف أو تسريح بإحسان ‏)‏ قالت عائشة فاستأنف الناس الطلاق مستقبلا من كان طلق ومن لم يكن طلق ‏.‏

Chapter : The Book on Divorce and Li’an – كتاب الطلاق واللعان عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم