iddat
Iddat serves to determine whether the woman is pregnant and so to fix paternity. After divorce of a consummated marriage it lasts three menstrual courses, or three lunar months if she does not menstruate; if she is pregnant, until delivery. After the husband's death it lasts four months and ten days, even if the marriage was not consummated; for a pregnant widow, the schools differ on whether it ends at delivery or at the longer of the two periods. A divorce before consummation requires no iddat.
During iddat the divorced wife is entitled to maintenance. Under s.3 of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, she is entitled to a reasonable and fair provision and maintenance to be made and paid within the iddat period. In Danial Latifi (2001) the Supreme Court read this to require provision for her whole future, not merely for the iddat months, answering the concern raised in Shah Bano.
Example
A marriage contracted with a woman still in her iddat is irregular (fasid) under Hanafi law, not void.
In Indian law
- Section 3, Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986
- Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum, 1985 INSC 97
- Danial Latifi v. Union of India, 2001 INSC 468
See also
talaq · fasid marriage · maintenance · mahr
Read more in the study notes
- Security for keeping the peace and good behaviour; maintenance of wives, children and parents (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- The Clayton Act, 1914 and the Federal Trade Commission Act, 1914 (Competition Law)
- Article 14: equality before law and the new doctrine of arbitrariness (Constitutional Law I)
- Specific performance of contracts (Contract I)
- Hindu marriage and the conditions of a valid marriage (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
- Development of Muslim law and its schools (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)