a marriage with a woman who is still in her ʿiddah (waiting period) is forbidden. Should anyone nevertheless contract such a marriage, the contract is automatically void, they are separated by way of annulment—not divorce—and if either spouse were to die in the meantime, neither would inherit from the other.

If the annulment takes place before consummation, he may propose to her again once her ʿiddah has ended.

However, if annulment is delayed until after he has consummated the marriage during her ʿiddah, then—according to Mālik and his companions, following a report from ʿUmar—it is never lawful for him to marry her again.

When the contract is concluded during her ʿiddah but intercourse is deferred until after the waiting period has elapsed, Mālik and his disciples differ as to whether the perpetual prohibition still applies. One narration from Mālik states that they are separated and he may never marry her, for their intimacy derived from a contract concluded while she was still in ʿiddah; this is tantamount to intercourse during the waiting period. This opinion is shared by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Salamah, represents the authoritative view of the school, and was adopted by Ibn al-Qāsim.

Another report from Mālik permits him to propose again after her ʿiddah ends. The same position is held by al-Mughīrah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Makhzūmī and Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Dīnār. ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Mājishūn remarks that, in Medina after Mālik’s time, legal verdicts generally followed the views of al-Mughīrah and Ibn Dīnār—and Allah knows best.

Scholars also differ over the waiting period she must observe when separation occurs after consummation. Ibn al-Qāsim transmits from Mālik that she is required to observe only three menstrual cycles, which suffice for both waiting periods together. Whether the marriage took place after one cycle or two, she must begin a fresh set of three cycles after her separation from the second husband.

The scholars of Medina relate another opinion from Mālik: she should first complete the remainder of her original waiting period—whether that be one cycle, two, or more—then observe a full three cycles for the second husband, in line with the report from ʿUmar.

If her former husband has died, the second man consummates the marriage during her ʿiddah, and the couple are then separated, she must complete the remainder of her four-month waiting period.