in their era, so it constitutes a consensus (ijma'). And because she is prevented from prayer by the ruling of the state of ritual impurity (hadath) of menstruation, so she is like the menstruating woman. The second narration is that the 'idda expires with her purification from the third menstruation and the cessation of her blood. This was chosen by Abu al-Khattab. It is the statement of Sa'id ibn Jubayr, al-Awza'i, and al-Shafi'i in his earlier (qadim) opinion; because Allah the Almighty said: {They shall wait for themselves three periods (quru')} (3). The periods have been completed, evidenced by the obligation of ghusl upon her, the obligation of prayer, the performance of fasting, and its validity for her. And because the ruling of the 'idda regarding inheritance, the occurrence of divorce, li'an (imprecation), and maintenance no longer remains, so it is the same in what we are discussing. The Qadi said: If we stipulate ghusl, its absence results in the permissibility of return (raj'ah) and prohibits her to other husbands; as for the other rulings, they are severed upon the cessation of her blood.

Section: If we say that the quru' are the periods of purity, and he divorces her while she is pure, her 'idda expires with the sight of blood from the third menstruation. If he divorces her while she is menstruating, her 'idda expires with the sight of blood from the fourth menstruation. This is the statement of Zayd ibn Thabit, Ibn 'Umar, 'A'ishah, al-Qasim ibn Muhammad, Salim ibn 'Abd Allah, Aban ibn 'Uthman, Malik, and Abu Thawr. It is the manifest position of the school of al-Shafi'i. Another statement was narrated from him: the 'idda does not expire until a day and a night pass since the blood, because it is possible that the blood is irregular bleeding (fasad), so we do not judge the 'idda to have expired until the uncertainty is removed. The Qadi also narrated this as a possibility in our school. As for us, Allah the Almighty set the 'idda at three quru', so increasing it is contrary to the text, and it should not be relied upon. Furthermore, it is the statement of those we named among the Companions, which al-Athram narrated from them with his chain of transmission. The wording of the hadith of Zayd ibn Thabit is: "If she enters the blood of the third menstruation, she has been acquitted of him, and he has been acquitted of her; she does not inherit from him, and he does not inherit from her" (7).