‘Iddah (Arabic ʿiddah) is the Mohammedan legal waiting-period imposed on a woman after divorce or the death of her husband, during which she may not contract a new marriage. In Acheh, as C. Snouck Hurgronje describes in The Achehnese, the institution is just as little understood by the laity as the related right of ruju’, though its general outlines are observed under the guidance of the teungku.
The Law
For a woman who has periods, the ‘iddah amounts to three seasons of sexual purity, the first of which may be that during which the ṭalāq was pronounced, thus comprising at least three periods; for others it is three full months. In the case of a pregnant woman it lasts till about 40 days after childbirth. In all Mohammedan countries of the East Indian Archipelago it has been usual to fix the ‘iddah of all non-pregnant women at three months and ten days, through fear of errors arising from ignorance or miscalculation on the part of the women. Of late, however, Arabic influence has caused an increasing tendency to adhere to the letter of the law.
After the death of the husband, an ‘iddah is also observed in Acheh, lasting four months and ten days — quite in accordance with Mohammedan law.
Achehnese Practice
The ‘iddah is just as little understood by the laity as the ruju’. It is known indeed that a woman cannot marry again immediately after a divorce, but as a rule she seldom wants to do so. Where there is any doubt, the teungku’s advice is again sought and he decides that, according to the adat of Acheh, three months and ten days must be allowed to elapse except in case of pregnancy. The use of intermediaries to make reunion possible after a threefold divorce is practically nonexistent and is known only to such as have studied the kitabs or books of the law.
Connection with Divorce and Recall
The ‘iddah derives its practical importance in Acheh from the fact that the comparative rarity of divorce means that few laymen are familiar with its technicalities. In Java, by contrast — where the ṭalāq is extensively resorted to — most of the people are tolerably familiar, through experience amongst their own surroundings, both with the rules of ‘iddah, ruju’, and many other similar technicalities. As a result of the fact that the ṭalāq as applied in Acheh is not an expression of ill-temper but the means used to terminate a position which has become impossible, the permission given by the law to pronounce three ṭalāqs all at the same time — and thus make the separation at once irrevocable — seems to have been made use of from the earliest times. Thus arose the idea popular in Acheh that a divorce is necessarily composed of three parts. After a first or second divorce, if the husband has not made timely use of his right of ruju’ during the ‘iddah, a new marriage can still be concluded between the pair by mutual consent.
The position of women in Achehnese society is, Hurgronje notes, a fairly high one for a Mohammedan country, and is reflected in the comparative rarity of divorce and the practical independence of women from their husbands in matters of lodging and maintenance — a position that renders the technicalities of ‘iddah less oppressive than they might be elsewhere.
See Also
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.