4. The waiting period for a widow who is not pregnant is four months and ten nights if she is free, and two months and five days if she is a slave-woman.

5. She may lawfully remarry even though her post-natal bleeding has not yet ceased, because she herself related, “He gave me a legal ruling that I became permissible the moment I delivered my child…”—as narrated by Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī.

6. Shaykh al-Islām said, “In the Quran the obligation of a waiting period consisting of three menstrual cycles is imposed only on divorcees; it is not required of a woman whose husband separated from her without an actual divorce, nor of one who was approached on the basis of mistaken identity, nor of a woman involved in fornication.”

Reconciling the two verses
The general wording of Allah’s statement, “For those who are pregnant, their term is when they deliver their burden” (Q 65:4), indicates that every woman observing a waiting period—whether because of divorce or because her husband has died—completes that period once she gives birth.

Conversely, His statement, “Those among you who die and leave wives behind must wait by themselves for four months and ten nights” (Q 2:234) in its general sense teaches that the waiting period of every widow is four months and ten nights, whether she is pregnant or not.

In light of this apparent tension, a minority of scholars held that a pregnant widow must observe whichever of the two limits is longer: the four months and ten nights or delivery of the child. Thus, if her pregnancy extends beyond four months and ten nights, the pregnancy sets the term; if she gives birth earlier, she completes the four months and ten nights so as to avoid the conflict.

The vast majority of scholars—including the four enduring Imams—restrict the verse “Those among you who die…” to widows who are not pregnant, basing themselves on the ḥadīth of Subayʿah just discussed. They leave the first verse in its full generality, holding that delivery terminates every waiting period, whether during the husband’s life or after his death. By this specification the evidences are harmonised and the difficulty is removed.

The point of this specification is that the foremost purpose of the waiting period is to ascertain that the womb is free, something that is clearly established once the woman gives birth.

Benefit
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah was asked about a man who abandoned his wife for six years without providing maintenance. The wife then married another man, who consummated the marriage, after which the first husband returned. He replied: “The first marriage became invalid because the husband failed to provide maintenance, and her waiting period expired. She then married the second man, and that marriage is valid. However, if she entered into the second marriage before the first was annulled, the second marriage is invalid.”