Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah,
A friend of mine has been divorced and commenced her Iddah. She has already experienced one period, however, due to her periods being irregular and she not seeing them monthly, for the last 45 days she has nt had a second menstrual period. In her case, how will her Iddah be calculated?
Answer
Wa’alaykum as Salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu?
Since your friend was given 3 Talaaqs by her ex-husband, it became incumbent upon her to sit in Iddah. If your friend had been an older woman who has ceased experiencing menstrual cycles, or a woman who never sees her periods, then her Iddah would have been three complete months or 90 days. But your friend does not fall under the latter category, as she appears to be a young woman who still experiences menstrual cycles. Thus, her Iddah will span over three complete menstrual periods. Even though your friend’s periods are irregular and she does not see them monthly, she will still be required to wait for three menstrual periods to elapse before her Iddat can be considered to be terminated. Whether the duration of three periods in her case stretches over six months or even upto a year (maximum), she will still necessarily have to see the whole term through. As she has already experienced one period, she will wait for the next one (whether it comes after one month or two or three months), and then after becoming clean once more, she will wait for a third period. It is only after termination of that third menstrual period, that she will be free to marry another man if she wishes.
If she does not experiance Iddah for an entire year, then she may contact a Mufti then, who will determine whether to pass the verdict in accordance with the Maliki Madhab, and allow her to terminate her Iddah.
And Allaah Ta’aala knows best
Wassalaam,
Ismail Moosa (Mufti)