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When is a woman, divorced once, permitted to marry someone other than her divorcer? Is it a condition for marriage that three complete menstrual cycles have passed, or is it sufficient for two cycles to have passed and the third to have begun? Is it permissible to propose to her during her waiting period (iddah)?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A woman divorced by a single revocable repudiation (ṭalāq rajʿī) is not permitted to marry until her waiting period (ʿiddah) has ended with three menstrual cycles. If her third menstrual cycle has ended but she has not yet performed the ritual bath (ghusl), there is a difference of opinion regarding the completion of her ʿiddah. The preponderant view is that it does not end until she performs the ghusl, and this is the madhhab (school of thought) of the majority of the Companions and the Tābiʿīn.

As for a woman who has been revocably divorced, it is not permissible to propose to her, neither explicitly nor implicitly, because she is considered to be under the ruling of a wife as long as she is within her waiting period.

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

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