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Is it permissible for the husband to prevent his divorced wife from spending her waiting period (iddah) in his house, knowing that she left without his consent and moved all her belongings, and she wants to return to spite the husband and the second wife?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a Khul' or divorce occurs in exchange for compensation, the woman becomes a minorly irrevocably divorced (baynunah sughra) and is considered a stranger to her husband. Thus, he is not permitted to be in seclusion with her, nor is she obligated to observe her 'iddah in his house. If they agree that she observes her 'iddah in his house, then there must be someone present to prevent seclusion, and she must be veiled from him. As for a woman divorced with a revocable divorce (talaq raj'i), she is obligated to observe her 'iddah in the marital home, and it is not permissible to expel her from it, based on Allah's saying: "Do not expel them from their homes, nor should they leave."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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