SECTION ON DIVORCE · 47 – THE WAITING PERIOD OF A PREGNANT WOMAN
2306 – According to what ʿUbaydullāh ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUtbah reported, his father ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUtbah wrote a letter to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Arqam al-Buhrī, asking him to go to Subayʿa bint Ḥārith al-Aslamiyya and ask her about the incident she experienced and what answer the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) gave her when she asked him for a legal ruling (fatwa). ʿUmar ibn ʿAbdullāh then wrote a letter to ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUtbah, informing him that Subayʿa had told him the following: She had been under the marriage contract of Saʿd ibn Khawla, who was from the sons of ʿAmr ibn Luʾayy and had participated in the Battle of Badr. During the Farewell Pilgrimage, her husband died, leaving her a widow while she was pregnant. Not long after her husband’s death, she gave birth to her child, and after becoming pure from her postpartum bleeding, she adorned herself to appear attractive to suitors. A man from the sons of ʿAbduddār, Abū Sanābil ibn Baʿkak, entered upon her and said: “What is the matter with me that I see you adorned? Are you intending to marry? By Allah, you cannot marry until four months and ten days have passed over you.” Subayʿa said: When he said this to me, I went to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) that evening and asked him whether I could marry or not. He gave me a legal ruling (fatwa) that when I had given birth to my child, I had completed my waiting period (ʿidda), and if a suitor came forward, I was permitted to marry. Ibn Shihāb said: I see no harm in a pregnant woman marrying as soon as she gives birth, even if she is still in her postpartum bleeding (nifās). However, her husband should not approach her until she becomes pure. [238]
2307 – It is narrated from ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: Whoever wishes, I am prepared to invoke the curse (mubāhala) to prove that I am upon the truth. The short Sūrat al-Nisāʾ (i.e., Sūrat al-Ṭalāq) was revealed after the verse of four months and ten days in Sūrat al-Baqara. [239]
EXPLANATION
The short Sūrat al-Nisāʾ refers to Sūrat al-Ṭalāq. In Sūrat al-Ṭalāq, it is stated: “The waiting period of pregnant women is until they deliver their burdens (children),” so the waiting period ends when the child is born.