We reply: There are two answers to this:

First: such an analogy cannot be made, because the waiting period following a separation during the husband’s lifetime has rulings particular to it: its waiting period is three menstrual cycles, or three months for one who does not menstruate, unlike separation caused by death. Thus, analogy is not applicable.

Second: the compilers of the Sunan collections narrated from Ibn Mas‘ud, may Allah be pleased with him, concerning a woman whose husband had contracted marriage with her and then died before consummating the marriage. He said: “She is entitled to inheritance, must observe a waiting period, and is entitled to the bridal gift.” A man then stood up and said: “The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ruled concerning Barwa‘ bint Washiq, a woman from among us, just as you have ruled.” (1) Thus, the transmitted report prevents analogy, for it is well known among the scholars that there can be no analogy in the presence of an explicit text.

If someone asks: A man has intercourse with a woman under the mistaken assumption of a valid marriage—without a marriage contract—so do you require her to observe a waiting period? The established position of the school is that they do require her to observe a waiting period, because they hold that intercourse entails a waiting period, whether it takes place within a marriage, under a mistaken assumption of marriage, or through fornication. The correct view, however, is that a waiting period is not required; rather, only verification of womb-clearance is required, because a waiting period is only obligatory in a marriage that is not invalid. In this case, there was no marriage at all, so how could a waiting period be obligatory?! We therefore say: what is obligatory in this case is