Most High had explained the waiting periods of women who menstruate and those who are pregnant, while the cases of women who have despaired of menstruation and those who have not menstruated remained unresolved. The Prophet’s Companions—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—were uncertain about the ruling concerning them, so Allah revealed:

“As for those of your women who no longer menstruate, if you are in doubt, their waiting period is three months, as is that of those who have not menstruated.” [al-Talāq: 4]

Ibn Bukayr and Ismāʿīl al-Qādī held that Allah’s words, “If you are in doubt,” mean doubt about whether their menstruation will return, and thus refer to future uncertainty. They supported this with arguments too lengthy to reproduce here. Among them is that, in Arabic usage, despair applies only where hope has not been entirely extinguished. Thus, you may say that you have despaired of a sick person because of the severity of his illness, or of an absent person because of his prolonged absence; but you cannot properly say that you have despaired of someone who has died, for whom hope has entirely ceased.

They also argued that if the woman described in Allah’s Book as having despaired of menstruation, for whom He prescribed a three-month waiting period, meant a woman about whose menstruation returning there was no uncertainty, then a woman whose menstruation ceased while she was still of an age when she might menstruate would have to reckon her waiting period by menstrual cycles until she reached an age when menstruation was no longer expected—even if that took twenty years. This was al-Shāfiʿī’s position. It is erroneous and untenable for two reasons.

First, if she gave birth after a period exceeding the possible duration of pregnancy, the child would not be attributed to the husband, even though her waiting period had not ended. It is therefore inconceivable that she should observe a waiting period on account of a husband during a time when a child could no longer be attributed to him.

Second, it contradicts the statement of ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him: “Any woman who is divorced, menstruates once or twice, and then ceases to menstruate must wait nine months. Either pregnancy becomes apparent, or else, after those nine months, she observes a waiting period of three months and is then free to remarry.” None of the Companions disagreed with him.

Another of their arguments is that, if the uncertainty concerned the ruling, it would have been past uncertainty, and the wording should therefore have been “an irtabtum,” with an a-vowel on the initial alif of an.

If, then, you say that the woman who has despaired of menstruation, for whom Allah prescribed a three-month waiting period, is one who is uncertain and does not know why she has not menstruated, this would imply that no waiting period is required of a woman known not to menstruate because of youth or old age, whose condition gives rise to no uncertainty. However, since there is no definite threshold to refer to in this matter, all such cases have been treated alike.

Ibn Lubābah held in his book that a young girl who has despaired of menstruating while of menstruating age, and in whose case pregnancy can be ruled out, has no waiting period, even if girls like her can have intercourse. The same applies to an older woman whose menstruation has ceased and in whose case pregnancy can be ruled out. He said that this was Dāwūd’s position and that it accorded with analogical reasoning, since the waiting period exists only to preserve lineage: if pregnancy can be ruled out, there is no purpose to a waiting period. This, however, is an aberrant opinion.

And if we say that the woman who has despaired of menstruation, for whom Allah prescribed a three-month waiting period, is one who does not