The Book of Waiting Periods
Introduction
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The Book of Waiting Periods

A woman must observe an ʿiddah whenever she separates from her husband after a consensual seclusion in which he knew who she was and was able to have intercourse with her—even if a physical or legal impediment prevented intercourse for both of them or for either one of them1—or after actual intercourse, or if he dies while still married to her, even2 when the marriage contract is defective (nikāḥ fāsid) and subject to scholarly disagreement. If, however, the contract was null and void (bāṭil) by consensus, she does not observe an ʿiddah on account of his death.

There is no ʿiddah for a woman who is separated from her husband while he is alive if no intercourse and no valid seclusion have taken place, or if the separation occurs after both—or after either—of them and the husband is of an age or condition from which children are not normally born,3 nor is an ʿiddah required when she merely conveys her husband’s semen into herself,4 or when he kisses or touches her without seclusion.

Section

Women obliged to observe an ʿiddah fall into six categories:

1. The pregnant woman: her ʿiddah, whether occasioned by death or by any other cause, lasts until she delivers every child. It ends only with a birth that would render a female slave an umm walad. If the child cannot be ascribed to the father because he is too young, or because he is emasculated, or if she gives birth in less than six months from the time he married her and the child survives, her ʿiddah is not concluded by that birth.

The maximum duration of pregnancy is four years, the minimum is six months, and the usual term is nine. It is permissible to induce the expulsion of the nuṭfa (pre-embryonic drop) before forty days have elapsed by means of a lawful medication.