menstruating, she does not count the menstrual period during which the divorce was pronounced.
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Should a woman who is observing a waiting period engage in intercourse on the basis of a mistaken assumption of permissibility (shubha), she must observe a second waiting period. The two periods run concurrently: every menstrual cycle she experiences is credited to both. If the first period ends before the second is complete, she must finish the remainder of the second.
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The waiting period for divorce begins immediately after the pronouncement of divorce; the waiting period for death begins immediately after the husband’s death. If she learns of the divorce or the death only after the full length of the waiting period has passed, her waiting period is deemed to have elapsed.
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In the case of an invalid marriage, the waiting period starts either when the couple are formally separated or when the man firmly resolves to stop cohabiting with her.
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An adult Muslim woman who is either irrevocably divorced or widowed must observe iḥdād (mourning). Mourning consists of refraining from perfume, adornment, oils, and kohl—except for a legitimate need—as well as abstaining from henna and from wearing clothes dyed with safflower or saffron.
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No iḥdād is required of a non-Muslim woman or of a minor. A slave-woman, however, does observe iḥdād. There is no iḥdād in the waiting period that follows an invalid marriage, nor in the waiting period of an umm walad.
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It is impermissible to make an explicit marriage proposal to a woman in her waiting period, though an indirect allusion is permissible.
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A woman under either a revocable or an irrevocable divorce may not leave her house, day or night.
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A widow may go out during the daytime and for part of the night, but she must not spend the night anywhere other than her own home.
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A woman in waiting must observe her waiting period in the dwelling that was counted as her residence at the moment of separation. If her share of the deceased husband’s house is insufficient and the heirs expel her from their share, she may relocate elsewhere.
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The husband may not travel with a wife who is under a revocable divorce.
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If a man irrevocably divorces his wife, then remarries her during her waiting period and divorces her again before consummation, he owes her the full dower and she must observe a new waiting period. Muḥammad (al-Shaybānī) says: she is entitled to half the dower and must complete the first waiting period.
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The paternity of a child born to a woman under a revocable divorce is established if she gives birth up to two years or even longer after the divorce, provided she has not acknowledged that her waiting period had ended; if she gives birth