[15Praxanant]

who considered it such?

Please forgive my ignorance as I heard it as a hadeeth. I searched it online and found...

The hadeeth has a corroborating report from Mu’aadh ibn Jabal (may Allaah be pleased with him), which was narrated by al-Daaraqutni in al-Sunan (4/35) and Ibn ‘Adiy in al-Kaamil (2/694), with the wording: “Allaah has not permitted anything more hated to Him than divorce.” And there are other versions, but its isnaad is da’eef jiddan (very weak) and it is not valid to be quoted as evidence.

But although it is most likely that the hadeeth cannot be soundly attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), its meaning is sound.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

It is narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The most hated of permissible things to Allaah is divorce.” This hadeeth is not saheeh, but its meaning is sound: Allaah hates divorce, but He does not forbid it to His slaves, so as to make things easier for them. If there is a legitimate shar’i or regular reason for divorce, then it is permissible and depends on the likely outcome of keeping this woman as one's wife. If keeping her will lead to something that is contrary to sharee’ah which cannot be avoided except by divorcing her, such as if the woman is lacking in religious commitment or chastity, and the husband cannot set her straight, then in this case we say that it is better to divorce. But if there is no shar’i reason or ordinary reason, then it is better not to divorce, rather in that case divorce is makrooh. End quote.

Liqaa’aat al-baab il-Maftooh, no. 55, question no. 3