her iddah expires upon the delivery of one of the two children. Qatadah said to him: "Is it lawful for her to marry?" He said: "No." He said: "The slave has been defeated." If part of the child emerges, and he takes her back before she delivers the remainder, it is valid; because she has not yet delivered her entire pregnancy, so she has become like one who has delivered one of the two children.

Section: If a woman’s menstruation ceases for the third time, but she has not yet performed the ritual bath (ghusl), does her iddah expire with her purity? There are two narrations regarding this, mentioned by Ibn Hamid. The first is that her iddah does not expire until she performs the ritual bath, and her husband has the right to take her back during that time. This is the apparent view of al-Khiraqi, for he stated regarding the iddah: "When she performs the ritual bath from the third menstruation, she is permitted to husbands." This is the opinion of many of our companions, and it is narrated from Umar, Ali, Ibn Mas'ud, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, al-Thawri, and Abu 'Ubayd. A similar [opinion] is narrated from Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Abu Musa, Ubadah, and Abu al-Darda'. It is narrated from Sharik: He has the right of return even if she neglects the ritual bath for twenty years. The basis for this is the statement of those we named from the Companions, and no one is known to have opposed them in their era, thus it constitutes an ijma' (consensus). Also, most rulings related to menstruation do not lapse except through the ritual bath, and the same applies here. The second narration is that the iddah expires with mere purity before the ritual bath. This is the opinion of Tawus, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, and al-Awza'i. It was chosen by Abu al-Khattab; because of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "And divorced women shall wait for three quru'." The quru' means menstruation, and they have ceased, so the waiting period ceases. And in what was narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), he said: "The quru' of a slave woman is two menstruations." He also said: "Leave the prayer during the days of your aqra' (menstrual periods)," meaning the days of your menstruation. Furthermore, the expiration of the iddah is linked to her irrevocable separation from the husband and her lawfulness to others, so it does not depend on a voluntary act on the part of the woman without the husband’s attachment, like divorce and other waiting periods. And because if she were to abandon the ritual bath...