A man writes a letter of talaaq to his wife on the 27 June with the following wording.
I, name surname hereby issue one revocable talaaq to my wife, name durname, daughter of name surname of address in the presence of 2 witnesses.
signed by himself and 2 witnesses.
He does not however inform his wife who lives in a different country. She is informed of this through a third party on 28 September as she will not speak to her husband.
The letter is given to the 3rd party for posting/ fax to the wife.
When does the wife’s iddat start.
If the iddat started on 27 june and the 3 menstrual periods have passed without the wife sitting in iddat(as she was unaware and was only informed on 28 september), what are the conseqeuences.
Shukran
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
At the time when the husband wrote the Talaaq, it was effective immediately. Hence, the Iddah had began even though she did not have knowledge of the Talaaq been issued. If three complete menstrual periods have already lapsed since the Talaaq had been given, her Iddah is complete and there is no need to sit for Iddah on receiving the news of the Talaaq.
( ومبدأ العدة بعد الطلاق و ) بعد ( الموت ) على الفور ( وتنقضي العدة وإن جهلت ) المرأة ( بهما ) أي بالطلاق والموت لأنها أجل فلا يشترط العلم بمضيه سواء اعترف بالطلاق ، أو أنكر .
(الدر المختار ج3 ص520, سعيد)
ابتداء العدة في الطلاق عقيب الطلاق وفي الوفاة عقيب الوفاة فإن لم تعلم بالطلاق أو الوفاة حتى مضت مدة العدة فقد انقضت عدتها كذا في الهداية
(الفتاوى الهندية ج1 ص531, رشيدية)
And Allah knows best
Wassalaamu `alaykum
Ml. Rayhaan Docrat,
Student Darul Iftaa
Checked and Approved by:
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Darul Iftaa, Madrassah In’aamiyyah