Nikah during Iddat not illegal: experts

LAHORE: Legal experts are of the opinion that nikkah during iddat has not been declared a crime in Muslim family laws and there is no punishment proscribed for it in the law.

They said such an act can be called an irregularity. Lahore High Court former judge Nasira Javed Iqbal said ulema have their own opinion but nikkah during iddat is not haram. She said such a nikkah gets regularised on its own after iddat is over. She said not only nikkah, but rukhsati can be conducted during iddat under some conditions. Law expert Aftab Ahmed Bajwa said that a certificate mentioning validity of talaq is issued after 90 days of talaq, allowing the woman to marry at will.

He said the 90-day time was set to know if the woman was pregnant. Now that modern technology can discover pregnancy at an earlier stage, a woman can conduct nikkah during iddat but it will be considered an irregularity, he said.