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Fatwa CenterDuring divorce, wife spends Iddah outside the home
Question
My wife and I are divorcing; a Talaq was given while she is in another country and I am in another country. I advised her that she has to return home to spend her Iddah period in our home. One Imam told her that she do not have to spend her Iddah period in our home that she can spend it where ever she chooses. Is this true? Should she return home or should she spend her Iddah period away from home?
Answer
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
The rule of the divorced woman depends on one of two states. First, if the divorce is revocable, all the scholars are agreed that she must stay in her husband's home as Allah Says (interpretation of meaning): {O Prophet (SAW)! When you divorce women, divorce them at their 'Iddah (prescribed periods), and count (accurately) their 'Iddah (periods). And fear Allâh your Lord (O Muslims), and turn them not out of their (husband's) homes, nor shall they (themselves) leave, except in case they are guilty of some open illegal sexual intercourse. And those are the set limits of Allâh. And whosoever transgresses the set limits of Allâh, then indeed he has wronged himself. You (the one who divorces his wife) know not, it may be that Allâh will afterward bring some new thing to pass (i.e. to return her back to you if that was the first or second divorce).} [65: 1].
Second, if the divorce is irrevocable, most of the scholars believe that she should stay in her husband's home. This is the opinion of Imams Malik, Al Shafie and it is narrated as one of Ahmad's opinions over this issue. But, the sound opinion according to Ahmad's school of Fiqh is that she does not have to live in her husband's home.
The evidence for the first opinion in the generality of the meaning in the verse above. {And fear Allâh your Lord (O Muslims), and turn them not out of their (husband's) homes, nor shall they (themselves) leave, except in case they are guilty of some open illegal sexual intercourse.} [65: 1].
The evidence of those who believe that she is not obliged to stay in her husband's home and rather she has the choice is the following Hadith. Fatima Bint Qays said that her husband divorced her in the era of the Prophet and added: "I mentioned that to the Prophet and he said: "You have no right in expenditure or housing (home)". In another narration he said: "The expenditure and housing are for the woman whose divorce is revocable". [Muslim and others].
This last opinion is more preponderant because of its evidence. So, we think that if the divorce of your wife is still revocable, she must stay in your house during the Iddha period. Otherwise no housing is due for her.
Allah knows best.
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