pregnant by delivering her burden. This is because the intention behind the waiting period ('iddah) and the istibra' is to ascertain the freedom of the womb from pregnancy, and this is achieved by delivering it. Whenever she is pregnant with two or more [fetuses], her istibra' is not concluded until she delivers her last pregnancy, according to what we mentioned regarding the woman in her waiting period.

Section: If he marries his umm al-walad (concubine who has borne him a child), then he dies, she becomes free and no istibra' is required of her; because she is forbidden to the master and is not a bed/consort for him, but rather she is a bed/consort for the husband, so istibra' is not required of her from someone who is not a bed/consort for her. Furthermore, he did not marry her until he had performed istibra' for her, for it is not permissible for him to marry her before performing istibra' for her. If the husband divorces her before consummating the marriage with her, there is likewise no waiting period for her. If he divorces her after intimacy, or dies leaving her before or after that, then she must observe the waiting period of a free woman in full; because she became free at the time when the waiting period became incumbent upon her. If her master dies while she is in the waiting period of the husband, she becomes free, and no istibra' is required of her for the reason we have mentioned, and because his bed/consort [right] over her ceased before his death, so no istibra' was required of her due to him, like an umm al-walad who is not being considered when he sells her then dies. She builds upon the waiting period of a slave woman if her divorce was irrevocable, or if her husband died, and if it was a revocable divorce, she builds upon the waiting period of a free woman, as has passed. If she becomes separated from the husband before consummation by divorce, or she becomes separated by the death of her husband, or his divorce of her after consummation, and she fulfills his waiting period, then her master dies, then istibra' is incumbent upon her; because she has returned to his bed/consort [right]. Abu Bakr said: No istibra' is required of her unless the master returns her to himself; because his bed/consort [right] had ceased by her marriage, and nothing occurred for her to return her to him, so she is akin to a slave woman who has not been engaged in intercourse.

Section: If her husband and her master die, and she does not know which of them died first, then according to the opinion of Abu Bakr, no istibra' is required of her; because the bed/consort [right] of her master had ceased regarding her, and she did not return to it, and she must observe the waiting period for the death of her husband, the waiting period of free women, because it is possible that her master died first, then her husband died while she was free, so the waiting period of a free woman became incumbent upon her, in order to exit from the waiting period with certainty. And according to the other opinion, if there was between their deaths