Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated: (Before Islam, it was customary) that a man would divorce his wife, then before her waiting period (‘iddah) ended, he would take her back. Even if he divorced her a thousand times, the man would still return to his wife. Then a man divorced his wife and gave her respite, and when her waiting period was about to end, he would take her back and then divorce her again, and he would say: “By Allah, I will neither keep you nor set you free.” So Allah the Exalted revealed this verse: “Divorce is twice; then, either keep [her] in an acceptable manner or release [her] with good treatment.” (Al-Baqarah: 229) After the revelation of this verse, people began to pay attention to divorce anew, whether they had divorced or not.
Hadith Referenceمسند الإمام الشافعي / كتاب الرجعة / 1277
Hadith Takhrijاخرجه الترمذى الطلاق واللعان، باب نزول قوله ﴿الطلاق مرتان ...﴾ (1192) وقال ”صحیح“ والبيهقي: 7/ 444 - وفى المعرفة السنن والآثار له (4425) وصححه الحاكم: (2/ 279)۔
Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated (it was the custom before Islam) that when a man divorced his wife, he would take her back before her waiting period (‘iddah) ended, and even if he divorced her a thousand times, he would return to his wife and then divorce her again. Whenever her ‘iddah was about to end, he would take her back and then divorce her again, then say: “By Allah, I will neither keep you nor will I completely let you go.” So Allah the Exalted revealed this verse: “Divorce is twice; then, either keep [her] in an acceptable manner or release [her] with good treatment.” (__QUR_N__ al-Baqarah: 229) After the revelation of this verse, everyone, whether they had divorced or not, began to observe the rules of divorce anew.
Hadith Referenceمسند الإمام الشافعي / كتاب الرجعة / 1278