[Q 400] Is Iddah Necessary Without spending time together?

QUESTION:

A couple had their Nikah done and didn’t spend any time alone together after that. The girl is from England and the boy is from Pakistan. Now they both want to separate and get divorced. Will the iddah period ruling apply to the woman? If so, how will she go about with the iddah period because she lives alone and has to work to be able to pay the rent?

ANSWER:

It is prohibited to divorce without a valid Shar’i (Islamic legal) reason; in the blessed Hadiths it is mentioned as a disliked action. However, if there is a valid Shar’i reason, then giving divorce is permissible. In the aforementioned scenario, if after the nikah (marriage contract) there was no khalwah (privacy or seclusion) between the husband and wife—meaning they never remained alone together—then the woman is not required to observe iddah (waiting period).

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar رضي الله تعالى عنه narrates that the Beloved Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said:

أَبْغَضُ الْحَلاَلِ إِلَى اللَّهِ تَعَالَى الطَّلاَقُ

Translate: “Amongst all lawful things, divorce is the most disliked by Allah.”

(Sunan Abi Dawood, Book of Divorce, Chapter: The Dislike of Divorce, Hadith 2178, Vol. 2, Page 370)

Mufti Amjad Ali A’zami رحمه الله تعالى writes: “Iddah becomes necessary after the termination of nikah either, when the husband has passed away or khalwah tus-Sahihah (valid seclusion) has taken place.”

(Bahar-e-Shariat, Vol. 2, Part 8, Page 234, Maktaba-tul-Madina)

Answered by: Mubashir Attari (AskMufti Scholar)

Verified by: Mufti Sajid Attari

Translation checked by: Muhamed Hamza Attari

Date: 20th April 2025.