Divorce is One of the Rights of the Husband
Question :
It is established in the Islamic Law that divorce is one of the rights of the husband, but a majority of the scholars hold opinions ranging from a wife being authorized to divorce herself by herself, to a husband appointing a man to divorce his wife; my question is: Is this ruling confirmed from the Prophet ﷺ?
Answer:
I do not know of any Hadith from the Prophet ﷺ regarding a woman or anyone else appointing someone to obtain a divorce on their behalf. But the scholars have taken this from the evidences in the Book (of Allah) and the Sunnah for the permissibility of an adult man appointing another regarding his financial rights and the like; and divorce is one of the rights of a husband, so if he authorized a woman to obtain a divorce for herself, or he authorized someone else whose authority is valid to divorce her, then there is no objection to this, according to the Islamic rule on this.
But he may not appoint someone to pronounce divorce three times (at once), since it is not permissible for the husband to do so, therefore it is not permissible for the appointed agent to do it with greater reason, according to the narration of An-Nasa'i, with a good (Jayyid) chain of narrators, on the authority of Mahmud bin Lubayd, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "The Prophet ﷺ was informed of a man who had pronounced divorce upon his wife three times at once and he became angry and said:
"Shall Allah's Book be played with while I am among you?"[1] In the Two Sahihs, it is reported on the authority of Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, when he was asked about divorce, he said: "If you divorced her three times, then you have disobeyed your Lord in what He has commanded you regarding the divorce of your wife."
Source:
Ibn Baz
Fatawa Islamiyah, Vol. 6 Pages 21-22