The Prophet (SA) explained the meaning of this – that a woman should be divorced only when she is in a state of ritual purity (free from ḥayḍ [menstruation] and nifâs [postpartum bleeding]), when her husband has not had intercourse with her since the end of her last menses. In this case, she starts counting her waiting period from the first menstruation after the divorce. Otherwise, if she is divorced while menstruating, she has to drop that menstruation from the total count of three menstrual periods. This bid‘ah divorce is not permissible, by consensus. Concerning its validity and whether it will count as three divorces, there are three different positions:
(A) + (+H, +M, +S): It is valid (and this is the position of the vast majority). Ibn Ḥazm: It is invalid unless it is the third divorce or a threefold divorce. It is invalid; this is the position of a few Mâlikis and Ḥanbalis, including Ibn ‘Aqeel, Ibn Taymiyah, and Ibn al-Qayyim. This is also the position of ash-Shawkâni, aṣ-Ṣan‘âni, Ṣiddeeq Ḥasan Khan, Aḥmad Shâkir, and Ibn Baz. This is the position of the Shiites and Kharijites as well.
A detailed discussion of this matter is beyond the scope of this book, but the root cause of the disagreement can be briefly attributed to two issues:
1- The varying reports concerning the story of Ibn ‘Umar when he divorced his wife during her period and was ordered by the Prophet (SA) to take her back. In some of the reports, the following statements are mentioned: "فَرَدَّها عَلَيّ ولَمْ يَرَهَا شَيْئاً" (“So he returned her back to me and did not consider it anything [valid/good]”) and he said, “ لَيْسَ ذَلِكَ بِشَيْء" (“That is nothing [valid/good]”). The other narrations, however, contained the following statements: "حُسِبَت عَلَيهِ" (“It was counted against him [Ibn ‘Umar]”) and " جَعَلَها واحِدَةً (“He counted it as one)” and “اعْتَدَّ بِهَا” (“He counted it”).

2- The scholars who claimed that the divorce is invalid argued that it is not permissible, citing the following principle: