Does the legal waiting period (iddah) for a woman who filed for divorce in court begin from the date the divorce ruling is issued, or is the eight-month period she spent away from her husband counted as part of the waiting period?

The waiting period (iddah) for a divorced woman begins from the moment her husband divorces her. The period during which they were estranged before the divorce is not taken into consideration, because the marriage contract was still in effect, and she was still his wife. The proof for this is Allah's Almighty saying: "Divorced women shall wait concerning themselves for three periods." (Al-Baqarah:228). Allah has tied the beginning of the waiting period to the occurrence of divorce.