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When precisely, by date and hour, does the waiting period (iddah) for the mother end, given that the father passed away on Wednesday, December 7, 2011, at 10:00 PM?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If the wife is pregnant, her 'iddah (waiting period) is until she gives birth to the entire حمل (fetus). If she is not pregnant, her 'iddah is four months and ten days, according to the lunar months. The 'iddah begins from the time of death. If the death occurs during a month, the month of death must be completed to thirty days. So, if the husband dies on the twelfth of Muharram, her 'iddah ends on the twenty-second of Jumada al-Ula of the same year. If there is doubt about the day of death, precaution is taken by choosing the furthest day to complete the 'iddah, so that it ends on the following day. The 'iddah ends at the moment the husband died, according to the majority of scholars. According to the Malikis, the day of death is not counted if it occurred after Fajr (dawn). In Islamic law, the night follows the day that comes after it.

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

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