with desire, there is no waiting period for her. The evidence is Allah’s saying: “Then, if you divorce them before consummating the marriage with them, there is no waiting period for you to count concerning them.” This man has not consummated the marriage with her, so she is not required to observe a waiting period.

The summary of the author’s discussion is that a waiting period is obligatory after every marriage that is not invalid, so as to include an irregular marriage. This is a condition for the waiting period to be obligatory, whether it is a waiting period due to death or due to separation during the husband’s lifetime.

For a waiting period resulting from separation during the husband’s lifetime, it is stipulated that intercourse or seclusion must have taken place between two persons capable of begetting a child together.

For seclusion, it is stipulated that he knows of her, is capable of intercourse, and that she is consenting.

The essential and indispensable condition is that the marriage not be invalid.

It is necessary to know these conditions, because all the rulings on waiting periods that follow are based upon them.

Issue: If a man contracts marriage with a woman and then dies before consummation or seclusion, the waiting period is obligatory. This is because, regarding the waiting period due to death, we stipulated only that the marriage not be invalid and stipulated nothing further. This is the rationale; as for the evidence, it is the general import of Allah’s saying: “Those among you who die and leave wives behind: they shall wait by themselves for four months and ten days” [al-Baqarah: 234].

If someone were to ask: Why do you not analogize separation by death to separation during the husband’s lifetime? Allah, Exalted is He, mentioned concerning divorce that if it occurs before consummation, there is no waiting period. So why do you not say the same regarding the waiting period due to death?