Section
If a woman’s absent husband dies or he divorces her1, her waiting period (ʿiddah) begins from the moment the marriage bond is severed, even if she has not observed mourning.

The waiting period required of a woman who has been cohabited with under the mistaken assumption of a valid marriage (shubha), or through fornication, or on the basis of a void contract, is the same as that of a divorcée. If a woman who is already in ʿiddah is then cohabited with by shubha or under a void marriage, they are separated; she must complete the ʿiddah owed for the first husband, and the time she spent with the second is not counted2 toward it. She then observes a separate ʿiddah for the second man, and she becomes lawful to him only with a new contract after both waiting periods have ended.

If she contracts another marriage during her ʿiddah, that period is not cut off until the new husband consummates the marriage. Should he then separate from her, she resumes the ʿiddah for the first husband and, once it finishes, begins a new ʿiddah for the second. If she gives birth to a child attributed to either man, her ʿiddah for that man3 ends with the delivery4, after which she observes the ʿiddah for the other.

If a man, under the assumption of legitimacy, has intercourse with his former wife who is observing the ʿiddah of an irrevocable divorce, she must restart her waiting period because of that intercourse, the remainder of the first period being included within it. If, during that ʿiddah, he remarries her and then divorces her before consummation, she simply continues her original waiting period.

Section
Mourning (iḥdād) for the entire duration of the ʿiddah is obligatory on every woman whose husband dies while the marriage was valid, even if she is a non-Muslim under covenant, a slave woman, or someone not legally accountable; it is permissible for a woman who has been irrevocably divorced to—