Question: Is there a waiting period (iddah) for a final divorce (talaq bain), and if a wife is seeking divorce due to her husband’s unlawful earnings and he refuses to stop, why should she stay in his house during the iddah, as consuming even a morsel of unlawful earnings invalidates worship for forty years?
Answer: When a husband gives the first or second divorce, it is called a revocable divorce (talaq raj’i). When the waiting period (iddah) ends, it becomes a final divorce (talaq bain). The first or second divorce does not immediately become final; it is only after the iddah ends. The third divorce is final and irrevocable (talaq mughallazah), meaning the wife is immediately separated and there is no possibility of reconciliation. The iddah must be observed in the husband’s house.
Regarding the waiting period for reconciliation, the wife must stay in the husband’s house because it is Allah’s command. Allah says in the Quran:
"O Prophet, when you [Muslims] divorce women, divorce them for [the commencement of] their waiting period and keep count of the waiting period, and fear Allah, your Lord. Do not turn them out of their [husbands'] houses, nor should they [themselves] leave [during that period] unless they are committing a clear immorality. And those are the limits [set by] Allah. And whoever transgresses the limits of Allah has certainly wronged himself. You know not; perhaps Allah will bring about after that a [different] matter." (Surah At-Talaq: 1)
In this verse, Allah prohibits turning the wife out of the house and also prohibits the wife from leaving. No one knows what the future holds, so a woman should not make assumptions about the future. She does not know what will happen to her in the next moment, so how can she predict her husband’s future?
As for the issue of unlawful earnings, the wife is not earning unlawfully herself; the sin falls on the one who earns unlawfully. The wife is under his authority and is excused, so she is not sinful due to this.
✒️ Answer by: Sheikh Maqbool Ahmed Salafi, Jeddah Dawah Center, Saudi Arabia
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