Question:
can you kindly answer the following.
1) Does the Iddat of a widow come to an end by miscarriage. i.e. a widow had miscarriage a few days after demise if husband.
2) If a wife is given news that her husband has been killed in an accident where his body is unidentified but the family have doubts. they are pursuing an independent post-mortem to find out if it is the husband.
in this case does the wife just accept what is told to her and start her Iddat or wait for their independent post-mortem before starting her Iddat.
in the case of waiting if it is confirmed that it was the husbands body, then does the Iddat commence from that time or from when the husband died.
Jazakallah.
Answer:
1) If a pregnant widow, while observing her Iddah has a miscarriage then her Iddah will be terminated. (Ad-Durrul Mukhtaar, Vol. 1, Page 501)
2) If certainty prevails over the doubt on receiving the news of her husband’s death, then she should immediately start observing the Iddah. On the contrary, if the only way of confirming her husbands death is by carrying out an independent post-mortem. Then she can wait until the results of the tests are received.
Iddah commences from the time of husbands demise, therefore if the results prove that the deceased is in fact her husband then she must count the days of her Iddah from the time of death. (Ad-Durrul Mukhtaar, Vo. 5, Page 202)
And Allah Ta’ala knows best
Ebrahim bin Zainul Abedeen Backus
Attested to as correct by:
Mufti Muhammad Ashraf
Darul Iftaa
Jameah Mahmoodiyah
Springs
14 September 2005
10 Sha’baan 1426