Abu al-Sahba’ said to Ibn ‘Abbas: “Enlighten us with your information whether the three divorces (pronounced at one and the same time) were not treated as one during the lifetime of Allah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم and Abu Bakr.” He said: “It was in fact so, but during the caliphate of ‘Umar (ra) people began to pronounce divorce frequently, so he allowed them to do so (to treat pronouncements of three divorces in a single breath as one).”