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What is the waiting period (iddah) for a woman who has been divorced for the first time and did not know she was pregnant until a month later, and is a return to the marriage valid through sexual intercourse without informing the wife?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A pregnant divorcee's waiting period (iddah) does not end until she has given birth to her entire pregnancy, due to the Almighty's saying: "{And for those who are pregnant, their term is until they deliver their burdens}." If the pregnant divorcee was revocably divorced (raj'iyyah), and her husband had intercourse with her before she gave birth, without uttering a formula of return (raj'ah), then the return is considered to have occurred according to the Hanafis and Hanbalis. The Malikis concurred with them if the husband intended to return her by means of intercourse.

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

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