CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE IDDAT

The root from which the word iddat is derived is adda meaning “to
count”. In this context it means the counting of days and months. Thus
by definition, the iddat is a waiting period, a period of abstinence, or
a specified period during which, after the dissolution of her marriage
through divorce or death, or after any other form of separation from
her husband under certain conditions, the woman remains unmarried.
This temporary prohibition against marriage, which relates to women
only, is lifted when the iddat is completed. The only way in which it
affects a man is if he already has four wives, one of which is in her
iddat of divorce, and he would then not be able to marry again until
that wife had completed her iddat.
The object of the iddat is firstly to ascertain whether the wife is
pregnant, and if so, the paternity of the child. Secondly, in the event
of a revocable divorce, it gives the husband the opportunity to return
to his wife, and thirdly, it gives a widow the opportunity to mourn the
death of her husband.
The modern personal status laws have generally adopted these
Shari’ah provisions, they being mentioned explicitly in the laws of Syria,
Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Algeria. Where there is no
codified personal status law such as in Egypt, Libya and the Lebanon,
these provisions are taken for granted.

1. When to Observe the Iddat

The iddat must be strictly observed on divorce where there is a valid

marriage and consummation has taken place, under the Qurʾanic ruling
“And divorced women shall wait [as regards their marriage] for three
menstrual courses.” (2:228). The Shiʾahs are in agreement, with the
stipulation that consummation must have taken place for the iddat to
be observed, whereas the Sunnis are content for consummation to be
simply deemed to have taken place. Valid retirement without consum-
mation requires no iddat.
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There is a Qurʾanic ruling (33:49) which states “O you who believe!

When you marry believing women, and then divorce them before you
have sexual intercourse with them, no Iddah [iddat] have you to count
in respect of them . . .” Under this ruling, all schools maintain that no
iddat should be observed if there has been no consummation.
However, on the death of the husband, even if the marriage has not
been consummated and there has been no valid retirement, the wife is
required to observe the iddat of death. This is the difference between a
valid marriage, and a marriage which is not valid, because in the latter
case, there is no observation of the iddat. This provision is adopted in
the legislation of some Arab countries where valid retirement is deemed
the equivalent to actual consummation.
The muta marriage (the Shiʾah temporary marriage) is not subject to
divorce, either at the natural end of its term, or on a gift being made
by the husband to the wife of any remainder of the term. Nevertheless,
the muta wife shall observe an iddat of two complete menstrual cycles
if she has not reached the menopause, or of forty-five days if she is
failing to menstruate for some abnormal reason such as an illness. If
she is pregnant, then she must wait until after the birth of her child,
or for forty-five days, whichever is the longer.

2. Duration of the Iddat

Counting months by menstrual cycles (the Shiʾahs term being ‘cycles

of menstrual purity’) is the way in which the duration of the iddat is
calculated, including in the concept of the iddat the period up to the
birth of an expected child. Under a valid marriage contract, the counting
begins from the time of the divorce or the death of the husband, and
under a defective or invalid marriage contract, from the last act of sexual
intercourse. These provisions are expressly included in some modern
Arab legislations, and some rule that the iddat shall start immediately,
even if the woman is not aware of the occurrence which has triggered
her iddat, such as the death of her husband. Kuwaiti law, under Article
156, sums up as follows: “The iddat shall start (a) under a valid contract,
from the date of the repudiation or the husband’s death; (b) under
a defective contract, from the date of separation or the man’s death;
(c) under consummation with the semblance of the right to it, from
the date of the last cohabitation; (d) under a divorce decree issued by
the court, from the date that it becomes final.”