Does the Husband Lose His Right by Appointing an Agent for or Delegating Talaq?

Question

Question: Shamsuddin, fearing that his father-in-law would forcibly obtain from him the talaq of his daughter, said to two men: “I entrust to you the matter of the talaq of my wife.” Some days later, out of fear of his father-in-law, Shamsuddin said: “I gave the wife one talaq, two talaqs, three talaqs (میں بیوی کو ایک طلاق، دو طلاق، تین طلاق دیدیا); now I have no right over her any more.” Will these talaqs that he gave take effect after Shamsuddin had handed over the right?

Answer

Entrusting the talaq of one’s wife to someone else, if it is restricted by his wish (mashi’a), is a conferral of the power to effect talaq (tamlik iqa‘), by which the husband does not go out of ownership of the right of talaq itself nor is deprived of it; and this delegation (tafwid)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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