His statement, “whose separation takes place during the husband’s lifetime”: separation during his lifetime may be through divorce or annulment, though annulment takes various forms.

His statement, “her waiting period, if she is free or partially emancipated, is three complete menstrual periods; otherwise, it is two menstrual periods”: the evidence is the saying of Allah, Most High: “Divorced women shall wait by themselves for three menstrual periods.” [al-Baqarah 2:228] The verse is clear and explicit.

His statement, “two menstrual periods”: the word qurʾān is pronounced with a fatḥah on the qāf, because qurūʾ is the plural of qarʾ with a fatḥah; its dual form is qurʾān.

His statement, “or partially emancipated,” means that part of her is free and part of her remains enslaved. This can occur, for example, in the case of a jointly owned slave woman whom one of the partners emancipates while lacking the means to emancipate her fully. Only the portion he has emancipated becomes free, while the remainder remains enslaved. The jointly owned slave woman may not be sexually approached by her masters, but they may marry her off, since each of them owns only a portion of her. Thus, the only way for her to receive her share of marital enjoyment is through marriage. If they marry her off and her husband divorces her, her waiting period is that of a free woman, because menstruation cannot be divided.

As for the slave woman’s waiting period being two menstrual periods, there are Prophetic hadiths to this effect, whose combined weight establishes that they are sound (1). There are also reports concerning it from the Companions.