I am breastfeeding and my periods have not come back. How long is my iddah?

Sources

1. 1

   Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī), 8:111

   Open: Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī), 8:111 ↗ · checked Oct 18, 2026

   Read the passage: source 1

   أَمَّا إذَا عَرَفَتْ أَنَّ ارْتِفَاعَ الْحَيْضِ بِعَارِضٍ؛ مِنْ مَرَضٍ، أَوْ نِفَاسٍ، أَوْ رَضَاعٍ، فَإِنَّهَا تَنْتَظِرُ زَوَالَ الْعَارِضِ، وَعَوْدَ الدَّمِ وَإِنْ طَالَ، إلَّا أَنْ تَصِيرَ فِي سِنِّ الْإِيَاسِ، وَقَدْ ذَكَرْنَاهُ. فَعِنْدَ ذَلِكَ تَعْتَدَّ عِدَّةَ الْآيِسَاتِ

   If she knows that her menstruation stopped because of something that came up — illness, postnatal bleeding or breastfeeding — she waits for it to pass and for the blood to return, however long it takes, unless she reaches the age of menopause, as we mentioned; then she observes the iddah of women past menstruation.

2. 2

   al-Dardīr, al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr ʿalā Mukhtaṣar Khalīl, with Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī (Mālikī), 2:470

   Open: al-Dardīr, al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr ʿalā Mukhtaṣar Khalīl, with Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī (Mālikī), 2:470 ↗ · checked Oct 18, 2026

   Read the passage: source 2

   (أَوْ أَرْضَعَتْ) فَإِنَّهَا تَعْتَدُّ بِالْأَقْرَاءِ، وَلَا تَنْتَقِلُ عَنْهَا إلَى السَّنَةِ مَا دَامَتْ تُرْضِعُ طَالَ أَوْ قَصُرَ فَإِنْ انْقَطَعَ الرَّضَاعُ اعْتَدَّتْ بِالْأَقْرَاءِ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَحِضْ حَتَّى أَتَتْ عَلَيْهَا سَنَةٌ مِنْ يَوْمَ قَطَعَتْ الرَّضَاعَ حَلَّتْ، وَالْأَمَةُ فِي السَّنَةِ كَالْحُرَّةِ

   Or she was breastfeeding: she observes the iddah by qurūʾ and does not move to the year as long as she is nursing, however long or short; if the nursing ends, she counts qurūʾ, and if she does not menstruate until a year has passed from the day she stopped nursing, she is free. The enslaved woman is like the free woman in the year.

3. 3

   al-Nawawī, Minhāj al-Ṭālibīn (Shāfiʿī), p. 253

   Open: al-Nawawī, Minhāj al-Ṭālibīn (Shāfiʿī), p. 253 ↗ · checked Oct 18, 2026

   Read the passage: source 3

   ومن انقطع دمها لعلة كرضاع ومرض تصبر حتى تحيض أو تيأس فبالأشهر أولا لعلة فكذا في الجديد وفي القديم تتربص تسعة أشهر وفي قول أربع سنين ثم تعتد بالأشهر

   A woman whose bleeding stopped for a cause, such as breastfeeding or illness, waits patiently until she menstruates, or reaches the age of menopause and then (counts) months. If not for a cause, the same in the new view; in the old view she waits nine months, and in one view four years, then observes the iddah in months.

4. 4

   Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār ʿalā al-Durr al-Mukhtār (Ḥanafī), 3:508

   Open: Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār ʿalā al-Durr al-Mukhtār (Ḥanafī), 3:508 ↗ · checked Oct 18, 2026

   Read the passage: source 4

   الشَّابَّةُ الْمُمْتَدَّةُ بِالطُّهْرِ بِأَنْ حَاضَتْ ثُمَّ امْتَدَّ طُهْرُهَا، فَتَعْتَدُّ بِالْحَيْضِ إلَى أَنْ تَبْلُغَ سِنَّ الْإِيَاسِ جَوْهَرَةٌ وَغَيْرُهَا، وَمَا فِي شَرْحِ الْوَهْبَانِيَّةِ مِنْ انْقِضَائِهَا بِتِسْعَةِ أَشْهُرٍ غَرِيبٌ مُخَالِفٌ لِجَمِيعِ الرِّوَايَاتِ فَلَا يُفْتَى بِهِ … نَعَمْ لَوْ قَضَى مَالِكِيٌّ بِذَلِكَ نَفَذَ كَمَا فِي الْبَحْرِ وَالنَّهْرِ

   Excluded (from the months) is the young woman whose purity has extended — she menstruated and then her purity went on: she observes the iddah by menstruations until she reaches the age of menopause. What is in Sharḥ al-Wahbāniyyah, that it ends after nine months, is unusual and against all the narrations, and no fatwā is given by it. But if a Mālikī judge rules by that, the ruling is carried out, as in al-Baḥr and al-Nahr.

5. 5

   Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī), 8:117

   Open: Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī), 8:117 ↗ · checked Oct 18, 2026

   Read the passage: source 5

   وَلَوْ طَلَّقَهَا، أَوْ مَاتَ عَنْهَا، وَهِيَ حَامِلٌ مِنْهُ، لَمْ تَنْقَضِ عِدَّتُهَا إلَّا بِوَضْعِ الْحَمْلِ، أَمَةً كَانَتْ أَوْ حُرَّةً أَجْمَعَ أَهْلُ الْعِلْمِ فِي جَمِيعِ الْأَعْصَارِ، عَلَى أَنَّ الْمُطَلَّقَةَ الْحَامِلَ تَنْقَضِي عِدَّتُهَا بِوَضْعِ حَمْلِهَا

   "If he divorced her, or died, while she was pregnant by him, her iddah does not end except by the delivery of the pregnancy, whether she is enslaved or free." The people of knowledge in every age are in consensus that the pregnant divorced woman's iddah ends with the delivery of her pregnancy.