What is the effect of the death of the husband during the iddat of a divorcee?
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Question: What is the effect of the death of the husband during the iddat of a divorcee? [DJS 2015]Find the question and answer of Muslim Law only on Legal Bites. [What is the effect of the death of the husband during the iddat of a divorcee?]AnswerIf the marriage is dissolved by death, the wife is bound to observe the iddat whether the marriage was consummated or not. If the marriage was dissolved by divorce, she is bound to observe the iddat only if the marriage was consummated, if there...
Question: What is the effect of the death of the husband during the iddat of a divorcee? [DJS 2015]
Find the question and answer of Muslim Law only on Legal Bites. [What is the effect of the death of the husband during the iddat of a divorcee?]
Answer
If the marriage is dissolved by death, the wife is bound to observe the iddat whether the marriage was consummated or not. If the marriage was dissolved by divorce, she is bound to observe the iddat only if the marriage was consummated, if there was no consummation, there is no iddat, and she is free to marry immediately.
• In case of dissolution of marriage by the death of the husband
(i) If a marriage is dissolved by the death of the husband, the widowed wife has to observe iddat for a duration of four months and ten days. In this case, it does not matter whether consummation took place or not.
(ii) If the woman in this period becomes pregnant, then her iddat period extends till the delivery of her child.
• Death of husband during iddat (where iddat was due to divorce)
In the case where a woman is divorced by her husband and is observing divorce, an iddat of three months will be observed. If during this time her husband dies, she has to observe a fresh iddat of four months and ten days from the day of the death of her husband.
In Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum And Ors, 1985 AIR 945, the Hon'ble Supreme Court observed that
"there is no conflict between the provisions of section 125 and those of the Muslim Personal Law on the question of the Muslim husband's obligation to provide maintenance for a divorced wife who is unable to maintain herself. If the divorced wife is able to maintain herself, the husband's liability to provide maintenance for her ceases with the expiration of the period of iddat. If she is unable to maintain herself, she is entitled to take recourse to section 125 of the Code."
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