because Allah the Exalted says, “There is no blame upon you for indirectly alluding to a proposal to women” (al-Baqarah 2:235).(1)

“Explicitness” means openly declaring the wish to marry her, as when a man says, “I want to marry you.” Such frankness may drive her—out of eagerness for marriage—to state that her ʿiddah has ended when in fact it has not. An indirect allusion, by contrast, does not clearly spell out a wish to marry and therefore carries no such risk, which is the import of the noble verse.

An example of an indirect allusion is to say, “Someone like you is certainly desirable to me,” and the like. The irrevocably divorced woman may reply to an indirect allusion with an equally indirect response, but she may not answer an explicit proposal. The revocably divorced woman may not respond to a suitor at all, whether explicitly or by allusion.

[Contracting marriage with a woman who is in another man’s waiting period is forbidden]
2. It is unlawful to conclude a marriage contract with a woman who is observing ʿiddah for someone else, for Allah says, “Do not resolve on the marriage contract until the prescribed term reaches its end” (al-Baqarah 2:235).(2)

Ibn Kathir commented in his Tafsir (1/509): “That is, do not conclude the knot of marriage until the waiting period has elapsed; the scholars are unanimously agreed that a contract concluded during the ʿiddah is invalid.” End of quote.