she wishes, she may forgo it. The second opinion is that it is a right owed to Allah Most High, so she must spend her nights there, but may go out during the day to attend to her needs. This is the position of Mālik and his companions. The third is that she may neither spend the night elsewhere nor leave during the day. This was stated by those who hold that she is entitled to maintenance: they considered that she therefore had no need to go out, whereas a widow is permitted to go out during the day to seek Allah’s bounty because she has no entitlement to maintenance. All these arguments require examination. The correct position is that of Mālik and his companions.

They likewise differed, holding two opinions, over whether an irrevocably divorced woman must observe mourning during her waiting period. The first, held by Mālik—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—is that she need not observe mourning; this is the correct opinion. The second is that she must observe mourning, by analogy with the waiting period following a husband’s death: both establish that the womb is free of pregnancy, and both women must spend their nights in their homes throughout their waiting periods. Success comes from Allah, Glorified and Exalted.

Section
Clarifying the Meaning of Aqrā’

According to the scholars of the Hijaz, aqrā’ are the periods of purity between menstruations. This is the position of Mālik and his companions, with no disagreement among them. The scholars of Iraq, however, hold that they are menstrual periods. The evidence that Mālik’s position—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—is correct is the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic:

“O Prophet, when you divorce women, divorce them at the proper time for their waiting period.” [al-Talāq: 1]

That is, at a point from which they can reckon their waiting period, as Ibn ‘Umar recited it: “Divorce them at the beginning of their waiting period”—a reading cited by way of explanation. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explained that this means divorcing her during a period of purity in which he has not had intercourse with her. This shows that the period of purity during which he divorces her counts towards her waiting period and is one of her aqrā’. If aqrā’ meant menstrual periods, as the scholars of Iraq maintain, then someone who divorced his wife during a period of purity would be divorcing her at a time that did not count towards the waiting period.

As for the linguistic reasoning, qur’ derives from the expression qaraytu al-mā’a fī al-hawd, meaning “I gathered the water in the basin.” The womb gathers blood during the period of purity, then expels it during menstruation. The point of disagreement is simply whether a woman becomes free to remarry when her third menstrual bleeding begins or when it ends. Those who hold that aqrā’ are periods of purity say that she becomes free to remarry when that bleeding begins; those who hold that they are menstrual periods say that she is not free to remarry until those periods are complete.