Abandoning a scholar's Fatwa about divorce after acing upon it
10-3-2011 | IslamWeb
Question:
I married 10 years before and in anger, while fighting, I gave three divorces to my wife on different occasions. Last and third divorce was given 5 years before and the we separated. We have a kid also. Now I came to Saudi Arabia for work and I got knew that Mufti in Pakistan, I asked fatwa from, did not tell me that my third divorce was not valid as per one opinion of Islam as it was given in menses. At least, if he was honest and un-biased, he must have been told me both opinions and then he may could say what is preferred as per his research. If I could known at that time that divorce in menses is disputed among scholars, I could have taken easier fatwa to save my family. Is this now possible that I can re-marry her, after five years, based on Saudi fatwa that this last divorce was never valid ? salam
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
If you had really divorced your wife three times, then she became forbidden for you and it is not permissible for you to re-marry her until she marries another man a true marriage and he consummates the marriage with her, and then divorces her or dies. For more benefit on the kinds of divorces, please refer to Fatwa 82541.
Moreover, anger does not prevent divorce from taking place unless the person is not conscious of what he says; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 121374.
In addition to this, according to the preponderant opinion held by the majority of the jurists 
divorcing one’s wife when she is in menses takes effect even though it is a forbidden divorce that is not according to the Sunnah. For more benefit in this regard, please refer to Fataawa 82330 and 84647.
In any case, it is an obligation on the layman to ask a scholar whom he trusts in regard to his knowledge and religion; Allaah Says (what means): {…so ask the people of the message if you do not know.}[Quran 16:43]
Besides, a Mufti issues a Fatwa according to what he thinks to be the preponderant opinion and he is not obliged to mention to the person who sought the Fatwa from him the opinions of the scholars on a given issue.
Then, if the person who sought Fatwa acts according to the Fatwa that the Mufti issued to him, it is not permissible for him to change his mind and act according to the statement of a another Mufti in the same issue. Ibn Nujaym 
from the Hanafi School of jurisprudence, said: “All the jurists said: “It is not acceptable to abandon imitating the statement of a scholar after acting according to it; this is according to the agreed upon opinion, and this is the chosen opinion of our School.”
Furthermore, "Al-Fataawa Al-Hindiyyah" reads: “If he acts according to the statement of the first scholar regarding his wife, and then another scholar gives him a Fatwa contrarily to what the first scholar had told him, then it is not acceptable for him to abandon what he started acting upon and act according to the Fatwa of the second one. Muhammad Ibn Al-Hasan said: “All this is the view of Abu Haneefah and Abu Yousuf and this is our [Al-Hasan's] view as well.”
Finally, if should be noted that if problems occur in marital life, one should be wise in solving them and avoid uttering the words of divorce, because he will often regret it .
Allaah Knows best.