'Iddah (Female Menstrual Waiting Period): Difference between revisions

Islamic legal texts make the claim that ‘Iddah is necessary in order to keep the ‘parentage’ of the child secure. Yet in point of fact, in light of modern science, being free of blood from the first menstrual cycle is not enough to know if a woman is or is not pregnant, even though Islamic law stipulates that the 'iddah (waiting period) of a new prisoner<ref>[https://sunnah.com/abudawud:2158 Sunnan Abu Dawud: 2158]</ref>, and also of a free Muslim woman who takes divorce through [[Khul']]<ref>[https://islamqa.info/en/answers/5163/does-iddah-apply-in-the-case-of-khula Islam Question Answer Fatwa Website]</ref>. According to Islamic law, after the first menstrual cycle Muslim men may have intercourse with them. Muhammad himself had sex with Saffiyah the same night, when in the day her father, brother and husband was killed, while she became free from blood of her first menstrual cycle the same day<ref>[https://sunnah.com/bukhari/64/251 Sahih Bukhari:2158]</ref>. Muhammad married her as a free woman. These facts cast doubt on the idea that the 3 month 'iddah of a divorced women or the 4 month 10 day 'iddah of a widdow has anything to do with determining parental rights and responsibilities

The Islamic concept of 'Iddah entails a waiting period that a women must undergo between marriages. This period of waiting entails a number of restrictions on the woman before she can re-enter society, let alone marry again.  

*She is all alone during the ‘Iddah period to financially secure herself and her children.<br />

A powerful idea within Islamic law and preaching is "promoting virtue and preventing vice" or in Arabic الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر literally "commanding in virtue and denying in vice." Muslims scholars argue that the institution of the 'iddah is in harmony with this principle, as the isolation of the woman during this period keeps her from falling into [[Zina]]. This idea is maintained even though going to parks, picnics, going on walks, going to social gatherings, visiting their relatives and staying with their parents is normally allowed to never-married women, who could also theoretically fall into zina. Unmarried Muslim women not in undergoing their 'iddah are also allowed to use Kolh and perfume, and to wear jewerly and good clothes, to take part in Henna and to wash their faces with Aloe. Never the less, all of these things are forbidden to women undergoing their 'iddah.

{{Quote|{{Bukhari|||5336|darussalam}}|Um Salama said that a woman came to Allah's Messenger and said, "O Allah's Messenger ! The husband of my daughter has died and she is suffering from an eye disease. Can she apply  collyrium/kohl to her eye?" Allah's Messenger replied, "No," twice or thrice. (Every time she repeated her question) he said,''' "No." Then Allah's Messenger added, "It is just a matter of four months and ten days. In the Pre-Islamic Period of ignorance a widow among you should throw a globe of dung when one year has elapsed (i.e. she had to stay in ‘Iddah for the whole one year)." '''}}Apparently women even at the time the hadith was created were complaining of the burdens of the 'iddah, but the hadith admonishes them that they ought to be thankful for Islam, since in the jahiliyyah (the pre-islamic time of "ignorance" before the coming of Islam in the Arab peninsula) the 'iddah lasted a whole year. That there were complaints, though, can be seen from the existence of the hadith in the first place, so even in the time of this hadith women were not happy with them; by comparison, modern secular culture imposes no such restrictions on women at all.  

Many Islamic du'aah, shaykhs, and ulemaa' argue that the reason for the 4 month and 10 days long 'iddah of a widow is to ''''mourn'''<nowiki/>' the death of the husband.<ref>Reason for 4 months 10 days long Iddah of a widow [https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/88684/rights-of-a-deceased-husband-on-his-wife]</ref> Yet it should be noted that there is no obligation of any “mourning” upon a man if the wife dies. There is a clear  a double standard vis-a-vis the same situation involving a man and a woman:

==Reason for the 'Iddah of a pregnant woman==

Muhammad in the hadith of Sunan Abu Dawud justifies the practice in this manner:

{{Quote|{{Abudawud||2158|darussalam}}|رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ يَوْمَ حُنَيْنٍ قَالَ ‏"‏ لاَ يَحِلُّ لاِمْرِئٍ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ أَنْ يَسْقِيَ مَاءَهُ زَرْعَ غَيْرِهِ ‏"

The Messenger of Allah said: It is not lawful for a man who believes in Allah and the last day '''to water what another has sown with his water (meaning intercourse with a woman who is pregnant from her previous husband).'''}}

Islam critics point out that: