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Breastfeeding is unanimously accepted as a reason why the absence of menstruation does not raise suspicion of pregnancy; whether illness constitutes such a reason is disputed. Ashhab said that illness is like breastfeeding: the absence of menstruation in either case does not raise suspicion of pregnancy, whether following widowhood or divorce. Thus, a widow becomes free to remarry after four months and ten days, while a divorced woman observes a waiting period reckoned by menstrual cycles, however far apart they may be.

Ibn al-Qāsim transmitted from Mālik—and this was also the position adopted by Ibn al-Qāsim, Ibn Abd al-Hakam and Asbagh—that the absence of menstruation during illness raises suspicion of pregnancy, just as it does in a healthy woman, unlike a breastfeeding woman. Accordingly, a widow must wait until nine months have elapsed, while a divorced woman must wait a year: nine months to establish that she is not pregnant, followed by three months as the waiting period proper.

The distinction they draw between illness and breastfeeding is that she can stop breastfeeding by having the child taken from her, whereas illness is beyond her control. Moreover, breastfeeding has a known duration and a defined limit, whereas illness has no fixed limit: it may continue for many years, beyond the period within which a child could be attributed to the husband. If her waiting period were reckoned by menstrual cycles, then, should these be far apart, it might exceed the period within which a child could be attributed to him. That is untenable.

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No waiting period following divorce is required before consummation. Allah, mighty and majestic, says:

“O you who believe, when you marry believing women and then divorce them before you have touched them, you have no right to require them to observe a waiting period.” [al-Ahzāb: 49]—to the end of the verse.

If, however, he has consummated the marriage with her, she observes a waiting period of three menstrual cycles if she menstruates, or three months if she is too young or too old to menstruate. Allah, mighty and majestic, says:

“Divorced women shall wait for three menstrual cycles.” [al-Baqarah: 228]

He also says:

“As for those of your women who no longer menstruate, if you are in doubt, their waiting period is three months.” [al-Talāq: 4]

[There is disagreement over the meaning of Allah’s words—mighty and majestic—“If you are in doubt” [al-Talāq: 4]]: what does this doubt refer to? Ashhab transmitted from Mālik that it refers to an earlier uncertainty about the ruling, not uncertainty about whether their menstruation would resume. This is because Allah