Ibnu Taymiyyah transgressed the consensus of the Muslims on the issue of divorce

والصَّلَاةُ والسَّلاَمُ عَلَى سَيّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ أَشْرَفِ اْلمُرْسَلِيْنَ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ الطَّيّبِيْنَ الطَّاهِرِيْن

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During the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when a man would say to his wife, 'You are divorced the battah', they intended by "battah" to emphasise a single divorce. It was regarded as one divorce unless the intention was to mean three. This practice continued during the time of ‘Abu Bakr and in the early caliphate of ^Umar. However, over time, the usage among the people evolved, and they began saying, 'You are divorced the battah', to signify three divorces.

^Umar then implemented the ruling of three divorces, as the people had come to intend by "battah" the threefold divorce, rather than the single one. Accordingly, ^Abdu l-Lah ‘Ibnu ^Abbas held that anyone who pronounces divorce three times in a single utterance, [such as saying, 'You are divorced three times'], would be considered to have pronounced three distinct divorces.

However, some people have deviated by stating that if a triple divorce is pronounced in a single statement, it is considered as only one divorce, and they erroneously support this claim with the hadith narrated by Imam Muslim, in which Ibnu ^Abbas said:

"كانَ الطلاقُ طلاقُ الثلاثِ على عهدِ رسول الله وأبي بكر وصدْرٍ منْ خلافةِ عُمَرَ واحِدًا، ثم قالَ عمرُ إنَ الناسَ استَعجلوا في أمرٍ كانت لهُم فيهِ أناةٌ فلو أمْضَيناهُ عليهم فأمضاهُ عليهم"

“During the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, ‘Abu Bakr, and the early period of ^Umar’s Caliphate, the pronouncement of divorce three times was regarded as a single pronouncement. However, ^Umar remarked: ‘The people have hastened in a matter with which they once exercised patience. We should enforce this ruling upon them’, and he proceeded to do so.”

They have no valid evidence for this, and it is not permissible to interpret this hadith literally for several reasons:

1. Imam ‘Ahmad ‘Ibnu Hanbal said about this hadith: « It is anomalous (shadh-dh), and the anomalous is not accepted as evidence. » This was noted by Hafidh ‘Ibnu Rajab al-Hanbaliyy in his refutation of those who claimed that the three pronouncements of divorce when uttered at once, are considered a single one.
2. Due to this anomaly, the hadith is considered weak and unreliable (da^if), as it contradicts the fatwa issued by Ibnu ^Abbas, which states that a triple divorce pronounced in a single statement constitutes three divorces. This ruling was firmly established and is considered “mutawatir”[1]. It was reported by eight of Ibnu ^Abbas's trusted companions, as documented by Al-Bayhaqiyy in Sunan al-Kubra, through his chains of narration (‘asanid). Furthermore, according to certain scholars of hadith, including ‘Abu Hanifah and his followers, a hadith is not deemed valid evidence if the narrator’s actions contradict its intended meaning. It is highly improbable that ^Abdu l-Lah Ibnu ^Abbas would narrate this hadith with the aforementioned wording, interpret it literally, and subsequently issue a fatwa that opposes its apparent meaning.
3. Alternatively, it is suggested that the interpretation of his statement 'the pronouncement of divorce three times was regarded as a single pronouncement', refers to the 'battah' divorce, which was initially used to emphasise a single divorce. However, during the ^Umar’s time, its usage evolved to denote a three-time divorce[2]. Consequently, ^Umar implemented his ruling based on the people’s understanding of the term.

In other words, people initially used the phrase 'You are divorced the battah' to emphasise a single divorce; over time, however, it became commonly understood to refer to a three-time divorce.

 [1] The term mutawatir refers to a specific classification in Hadith studies. It describes a narration that has been transmitted through a certain number of narrators, so they can't have colluded in fabricating the report. In other words, the Hadith is transmitted by so many people across different generations that its authenticity is considered certain and indisputable. A mutawatir Hadith is regarded as one that conveys knowledge with absolute certainty, and thus, it is accepted as indisputable in Islamic scholarship.

[2] From then on, the ‘battah’ divorce has been regarded as threefold. It occurs when a man tells his wife, "You are divorced the ‘battah’." In such a case, the woman cannot return to her former husband until her waiting period (^iddah) from this divorce has passed, after which another man marries her, consummates the marriage, and divorces her. Only after the expiration of her ^iddah from the second divorce can she return to her first husband.