M married H who was undergoing iddat. On the death of M after three years of the marriage, H claimed a share in the property according to Mohammedan law. Other heirs resisted the claim on the plea that the marriage was void.

Question: M married H who was undergoing iddat. On the death of M after three years of the marriage, H claimed a share in the property according to Mohammedan law. Other heirs resisted the claim on the plea that the marriage was void. [DJS 1979]

Find the answer only on Legal Bites. [M married H who was undergoing iddat. On the death of M after three years of the marriage, H claimed a share in the property according to Mohammedan law. Other heirs resisted the claim on the plea that the marriage was void.]

Answer

Iddat may be described as the period during which it is incumbent upon a woman whose marriage has been dissolved by divorce or death to remain in seclusion and to abstain from marrying another husband.

The abstinence is imposed to ascertain whether she is pregnant by the husband, so as to avoid confusion about the parentage. When the marriage is dissolved by divorce, the duration of the iddat if the woman is subject to menstruation is three courses; if she is not so subject, it is three lunar months.

If the woman is pregnant at the time, the period terminates upon delivery. When the marriage is dissolved by death, the duration of the iddat is four months and ten days. If the woman is pregnant at the time, the iddat lasts for four months and ten days or until delivery, whichever period is longer.

A marriage with a woman before the completion of her iddat is irregular, not void. The Lahore High Court at one time treated such marriages as void but in a later decision of Muhammad Hayat v. Muhammad Nawaz, (1935) 17 Lah. 48, held that such a marriage is irregular and the children are legitimate. It must, however, be remembered that marriage before completion of the iddat is not void but merely irregular.

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