Chapter on Waiting Periods

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

A woman was divorced by her husband on the twenty-eighth of Rabīʿ al-Awwal and then menstruated once. She subsequently married on the twenty-third of Jumādā al-Ākhir of the same year, claiming that she had menstruated three times, although she had menstruated only once. When the second husband learned of this, he too divorced her, issuing a single pronouncement during the first ten days of Shaʿbān of that year. She then wished to remarry the second man who had divorced her, claiming that she had reached menopause. Is her claim to be accepted, and may she be married?

He replied:

Menopause cannot be established by a woman’s assertion. However, if this woman says that her menstruation has ceased and she does not know why, she must wait a year. If she does not menstruate during that year, she may be married. If she has reached menopausal age, no such delay is required. If her menstruation is known to have ceased because of illness or breastfeeding, she remains in her waiting period until that condition ends.

This woman was required to observe “two waiting periods”: one for the first husband and another on account of intercourse with the second. Her marriage to the second man is invalid and requires no divorce to end it. Thus, if she menstruated only once and the cessation of bleeding continued,