Hadith 3404

(1) The statement: They allowed him to take her back until she performs ghusl after her third menstruation: The basis for the chapter on the waiting period of divorce is Allah’s statement: And divorced women shall wait for three quru’ [Al-Baqarah: 228]. There was disagreement from the time of the companions and those after them regarding the meaning of quru’ in the verse, as quru’ (with dammah) is the plural of qar’ (with fathah), a term that can refer to either menstruation or purity. Some interpreted qar’ as purity, holding that the waiting period is three periods of purity, which is the view of Ash-Shafi’i. Our scholars, following many companions, including the Rightly Guided Caliphs, held that qar’ refers to menstruation. The practical difference appears when a woman is divorced during a period of purity and then experiences three menstrual cycles. According to Ash-Shafi’i, her waiting period ends upon entering the third menstruation, while according to us, it ends when the blood of the third menstruation ceases. Thus, she cannot marry another man during the third menstruation according to our view, contrary to his. Our position is supported by several points, including the Hadith: "The divorce of a slave woman is two, and her quru’ are two menstrual cycles," narrated by Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Al-Hakim, and others, along with the established fact that a slave woman’s waiting period is two menstrual cycles. It is known that slavery affects halving the period, not changing the ruling from purity to menstruation. Since it is established that a slave woman’s waiting period is two menstrual cycles, as stated in the Hadith, and because a single menstrual cycle cannot be divided (otherwise, it would logically be one and a half cycles), it is clear that the waiting period for a free woman is also based on menstruation, not purity. Additionally, Allah’s statement in Surah At-Talaq: And those who no longer expect menstruation among your women, if you doubt, then their waiting period is three months, and [also for] those who have not menstruated [At-Talaq: 4] indicates that menstruation is the intended meaning of qar’ in the previous verse. Furthermore, the Sunnah-compliant divorce is one pronounced during purity. If the waiting period were based on periods of purity, it would lead to either an increase or decrease from three, as the period of purity in which the divorce occurs would either be counted or not. If not counted, it exceeds three; if counted, it falls short. In summary, interpreting qar’ as purity would nullify the specific requirement of three, unlike interpreting it as menstruation, where a divorce in purity is followed by three menstrual cycles, completed when the third menstruation’s blood ceases. If you say: The Hanafis also face an increase or decrease if the divorce occurs during menstruation, nullifying the fixed number. I say: Divorce during menstruation is an irregular divorce, and the Shariah explains the rulings for legislated matters, not unlegislated ones. The verse refers to the waiting period of a legitimate divorce, where no increase or decrease occurs, even if one occurs in an irregular divorce. If qar’ were interpreted as purity, an increase or decrease would occur in a legitimate divorce. It cannot be said that the plural term can apply to two and part of a third, as in Allah’s statement: Hajj is [during] well-known months [Al-Baqarah: 197], because we say: That applies to a plural without a number, but when a number is paired with a plural, it does not. Additionally, quru’ is a plural, and the minimum plural is three, which only holds if qar’ is menstruation. Moreover, this is the view of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the just companions, and the prominent companions, making it more worthy of acceptance than the views of lesser companions. Ash-Shafi’i’s reliance on the masculine form of “three” is not valid, as qar’ is masculine, so it is referenced accordingly. When a thing has both masculine and feminine names, like wheat, it can be referred to in either form. [Umdat Ar-Ri’ayah, At-Ta’liq Al-Mumajjad, and Sharh Al-Kanz by Al-Ayni, excerpted from them]