it does not become clear that there is a pregnancy, she completes her 'idda by three months, and that is a year. We know of no one who disagrees with him regarding this. Ibn al-Mundhir said: 'Umar ruled by this between the Muhajirun and the Ansar, and no one denied it. Al-Athram said: I heard Abu 'Abd Allah being asked about a man who divorces his wife, and she menstruates once, then her menstruation ceases. He said: 'I follow the hadith of 'Umar; if her menstruation is lifted and she does not know why it was lifted, then she waits for a year.' It was said to him: 'What if she menstruates before the year is up?' He said: 'We return to the menstruation.' It was said to him: 'What if her menstruation ceases again and she does not know why it ceased?' He said: 'She waits for another year.' This is the opinion of everyone who agrees with us in the first issue; this is because when her menstruation ceased, she became a person of doubt, so it became obligatory for her to shift to observing the 'idda for a year, just as if her menstruation had ceased when he divorced her, and a full year became obligatory upon her. This is because the 'idda is not built upon another 'idda. For this reason, if she menstruates once or twice and then despair of menstruation sets in, she shifts to three full months. And if a young girl has observed the 'idda for one month or two and then she menstruates, she shifts to three menstrual cycles (quru').

Section: If the woman's habit is for there to be a long interval between her two menstrual cycles, her 'idda does not terminate until she menstruates three times, even if it takes a long time, because in this case, her menstruation has not ceased and it has not been delayed beyond her habit.