Iddat is the mandatory waiting period to be observed by widows or divorced Muslim women. The main reason for it is that by the end of four months and ten days, it is evident that the woman is not pregnant, and so she can then marry again. But over the years, some so-called experts have made it intolerable for women to observe the iddat.
Even though the original reason for iddat was to disallow the widow from marrying, she is now forbidden to talk to men who are not closely related to her (like her brothers, nephews, etc), those called "non-mehrams", men whom she can marry. Some fundamentalists have said it's a sin for her to talk to even her sister's husband or her son-in-law.
What I don't understand is that even if she is past the child-bearing age, she's forced to remain single and confine herself indoors. In this day and age, a simple blood test can determine if a woman is pregnant or not, so why should even a young widow have to undergo the torture?
Imam Bukhari relates the story of a woman whose husband was killed in a battle just two days before she gave birth. After forty days, she announced that she was ready to marry. Immediately there was an uproar from her relatives, so she travelled to Madina to ask the Holy Prophet whether she could marry or wait for four months and ten days. "There is no need for you to observe iddat", she was told. This also proves that a woman could travel during the iddat period, but our "experts" prefer to have her locked up.
No comments:
Post a Comment