Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah

Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him) says that if a man gives his wife one divorce, then another man meets him and asks, "Have you divorced your wife?" He replies, "Yes, I have divorced her." Then another man meets him and asks the same question, and the man replies, "Yes, I have divorced her." If, in giving these answers, he intended the first divorce, then only one divorce will be counted.

Hazrat Ibn Ma'qil (may Allah have mercy on him) and Hazrat Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) say that if a man gives one divorce to his wife, then another man meets him and asks, "Have you divorced your wife?" He replies, "Yes, I have divorced her." Then another man meets him and asks the same question, and the man replies, "Yes, I have divorced her." If, while answering them, he intended the first divorce, then only one divorce will be counted.

Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) says that a man gave his wife one divorce. On the way, he met a man who asked him, "Have you divorced your wife?" He replied, "Yes." Then he met another man who asked the same question, and he again replied, "Yes." This matter was presented before Hazrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), so he said that the intention will be taken into account.

Hazrat Abdur Rabbah, may Allah have mercy on him, says that I asked Hazrat Jabir bin Zaid, may Allah have mercy on him, that a man gave his wife one divorce. On the way, he met a man who asked, "Have you divorced your wife?" He said, "Yes." Then he met another man who asked the same question, and he again said, "Yes." So what is the ruling on this? He replied that if both times when he said "yes" he intended the first divorce, then nothing is required.

Hazrat Hammad (may Allah have mercy on him) says that if a man says to his wife, "You are divorced," and his wife says, "What are you saying?" and he says, "I am divorcing you," then if he says it again merely to make her understand, only one divorce will take place.

Hazrat Sha’bah (may Allah have mercy on him) says that I asked Hazrat Hakam (may Allah have mercy on him) and Hazrat Hammad (may Allah have mercy on him) that if a person says to his wife, “You are divorced, you are divorced, you are divorced,” what is the ruling? They replied that three divorces will take place, and if he intended only one, then only one will occur. And if he said to his wife, “Count your waiting period (‘iddah),” then the same ruling applies.

Hazrat Uqbah bin Abi Aizar (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that I asked Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him) if a person gave his wife one or two divorces, and then someone asked him, "Did you give your wife so many, that is, three or four divorces?" and the man replied, "Yes," then Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him) said that the woman would become irrevocably divorced (bainah).