Abū 'Abd Allāh said concerning a woman who obtains khul': “She observes a waiting period of three menstrual periods, like a divorced woman.”

It is also reported through Ahmad ibn al-Qāsim that Abū 'Abd Allāh said: “The waiting period of a woman who obtains khul' is one menstrual period.”

'Abd al-'Azīz said: “The report of al-Athram and al-'Abbādī is the one to be followed: whenever a free woman is separated from her husband, her waiting period is three menstrual periods. The hadith stating that a woman who obtained khul' was commanded to observe a waiting period of one menstrual period is weak, because it is transmitted from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) through a disconnected chain. I adopt the view I have stated, which is also the view of 'Uthmān ibn 'Affān.”

I say: Ibn al-Qāsim frequently transmits Ahmad’s later opinions, which he adopted after revising his earlier views. For example, he reported from Ahmad that issuing three pronouncements of divorce together is forbidden, mentioning that Ahmad had retracted his view that it was permissible, and that he had reflected upon the Quran and found that the divorce mentioned in it was only revocable divorce.

Likewise, Ahmad may have accepted the report concerning a woman who obtains khul' as authentic and revised his view accordingly. His statement, “Her waiting period is one menstrual period,” could only have been made if he had accepted the hadith as authentic; and if he had accepted it as authentic, he would not have abandoned it. Ahmad’s followers hold two views concerning intercourse mistakenly believed to be lawful—

Similarly, Ibn 'Umar initially held that her waiting period was three menstrual periods. When he learned of 'Uthmān ibn 'Affān’s view that she should wait for one menstrual period to establish that she was not pregnant, Ibn 'Umar adopted it. What Abū Bakr related from 'Uthmān is a less authoritative report. The well-known report from 'Uthmān is that she observes a waiting period of one menstrual period. This is also the view of Ibn 'Abbās and the later of the two views reported from Ibn 'Umar. No contrary view has been authentically established from any Companion: the contrary view is reported from 'Umar and 'Alī through a weak chain of transmission. The view that one menstrual period suffices was also held by Abān ibn 'Uthmān, 'Ikrimah, Is'hāq ibn Rāhawayh, and other jurists versed in hadith.