Meaning Three Talaqs by the Words “Clear Talaq”

Question

In our area a man gave his wife talaq with these words: “You are clear talaq” (تو صاف طلاق ہے; lit. “clear, plain talaq”). In the custom (‘urf) of the common people here, “clear talaq” is meant and understood as three talaqs, to the extent that even if the one who gave the talaq is himself asked what “clear talaq” means, he replies: “By ‘clear talaq’ I mean three talaqs.

Answer

This word is “you are clear talaq” (تو صاف طلاق ہے). In our idiom it means that it is not a vague word from which both the meaning of talaq and some other meaning could be derived; rather, it definitively has only the meaning of talaq. Meaning three talaqs by this word is not the idiom here.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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