‘Idda in the case of talaq without intercourse

Question

Question: The nikah of a fifty-year-old woman was contracted with a sixty-year-old man, and after six days he gave her talaq, and he did not have intercourse with her either. Now they want to contract this woman’s nikah with another man. Is ‘idda necessary for her or not? Or can her nikah be contracted even without ‘idda?

Answer

Intercourse did not take place, but was there between the two of them a seclusion such that, had they wished to have intercourse, they could have done so, or was there no such seclusion? If such a seclusion has taken place, then ‘idda is wajib; after the ‘idda, nikah with another man will be valid, and before that it is not valid.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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