Umm Maktum" (5), along with many other verses and hadiths. The community (ummah) has reached a consensus on the obligation of the 'idda in general, though they have differed on some of its types. They have reached a consensus that there is no 'idda for a woman divorced before consummation, based on the saying of Allah, the Exalted: "O you who have believed, when you marry believing women and then divorce them before you have touched them, then there is for you no waiting period for them to count. So provide for them and give them a graceful release" [33:49]. This is because the 'idda is required for the acquittal of the womb, and we have certainty of this here. The same applies to every separation during life, such as annulment due to breastfeeding, or a defect, or manumission, or li'an (imprecation), or difference of religion.
Section: The 'idda is obligatory upon a dhimmi woman from a dhimmi or a Muslim husband. Abu Hanifa said: If she is not of their religion, it is not binding upon her, because they are not addressed by the branches of the religion. We have as evidence the generality of the verses, and because she is irrevocably divorced after consummation, thus she is similar to a Muslim woman. Her 'idda is the same as the 'idda of a Muslim woman, according to the scholars of the cities; among them are Malik, al-Thawri, al-Shafi'i, Abu 'Ubayd, the scholars of opinion (ashab al-ra'y), and those who followed them, except for what was reported from Malik, who said: She observes the 'idda for death for one menstrual cycle. We have as evidence the generality of the saying of Allah, the Exalted: "And those who die among you and leave behind wives, they shall wait by themselves for four months and ten [days]." And because she is a woman in her waiting period due to death, she is similar (7) to a Muslim woman.
Section: Women observing the 'idda are of three categories: one observing it due to pregnancy, and she is every woman who is pregnant by her husband if she separates from her husband by divorce, annulment, or his death, whether she is free or a slave, a Muslim or a disbeliever. Her 'idda is by the delivery of the fetus, even if it is after an hour, based on the saying of Allah, the Exalted: "And for those who are pregnant, their term is until they deliver their burden." The second is one observing it due to menstrual periods (quru'), and she is every woman observing an 'idda from a separation in
(5) Its extraction has preceded in 10/331. Additionally: it was extracted by al-Nasa'i, in: Chapter on If a Woman Consults a Man Regarding Who Proposes to Her, Does He Inform Her of What He Knows, from the Book of Marriage (al-Mujtaba 6/62). (6) Surah al-Ahzab 33:49. (7) In the original: "wa ashbahat" (and she was similar).
