The ‘iddah of a divorcedwoman who is pregnant

A man had an argument with his wife and told her,"You are divorced."
She swore at him so he kickedher in the stomach and pushed her down
the stairs. She was five months pregnant and she lost the baby. Then
he regretted it and went to her family's house to take her back. Her
father askedme for advice and I asked him to wait until I consulted
one of the 'ulama' (scholars) because maybe her 'iddah ended when she
miscarried. What is the ruling on that?
Praise be to Allaah.
The scholars are agreed that the 'iddah of a divorced woman who is
pregnant ends when the pregnancy ends, because Allaah says
(interpretationof the meaning):
"And for those who are pregnant (whether they are divorced or their
husbands are dead), their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is until they lay
down their burden"
[al-Talaaq 65:4]
They are also agreed that if a woman miscarries a foetus in which
human features are apparent, her'iddah ends at that point. (al-Mughni
11/229). The human features start to appear after eighty days, and are
usually very clear by ninety days.
Based on this, if a womanmiscarries in the fifth month of pregnancy,
her 'iddah ends at that point, according to all the scholars, and her
husbandhas no right to take her back after her 'iddah has ended.
But he may make a new marriage contract with her if he wants to, but
that has to be with her approval and in the presence of her wali
(guardian) and two witnesses, and with a dowry (mahr).
There are two things which this man who caused this miscarriage has to do.
1 – He has to expiate for killing by mistake, which is by freeing a
believing slave; if he cannot do thatthen he must fast for two
consecutive months, because Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning):
"and whosoever kills a believer by mistake, (it is ordained that) he
must set free a believing slave and a compensation (blood money, i.e.
Diya) be given to the deceased'sfamily unless they remit it…
And whoso finds this (the penance of freeing a slave) beyond his
means, he must fast for two consecutive months in order to seek
repentance from Allaah. And Allaah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise"
[al-Nisa' 4:92]
2 – He must also pay the diyah (blood money) for the foetus, which is
one-tenth of the diyah forthe mother. The diyah for a Muslim woman is
fifty camels, which is equivalent in modern terms to 60, 000 Saudi
Riyals. So the father must pay 6,000 riyals or its equivalent in
another currency to the heirs of the foetus, and it should be shared
out among them as if the foetus had died and left that behind, but the
father does not inherit anything, because the killer does not inherit
from the one whom he killed. Ibn Qudaamah said:"If the person who
causedthe miscarriage was the father of the foetus or oneof the other
heirs, then hemust give a slave and we have stated above that the
equivalent is to pay 6,000 Saudi riyals or an equal amount in another
currency and he does not inherit anything of that, and he should free
a slave. This is the view of al-Zuhri, al-Shaafa'i and others."
(al-Mughni, 12/81).
And Allaah knows best. May Allaah send blessings and peace upon our
Prophet Muhammad.

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Where does Waswaas( bad thoughts) come from in Ramadaan

If bad dreams are from the Shayateen, but the Shayateen are chained
during Ramadhan, then how is it that we have bad dreams during
Ramadhan?
Praise be to Allaah.
Not all shayateen are chained. Only the leaders or the strong ones are
chained, which means they could not do in Ramadan the things they used
to do throughout the year. Let it also be known to you that alqareen,
who is the resident shaytan, never leaves you no matter where you go.
Also there is the evil within every one of us. Therefor, all of these
factors promote theevil which we see during Ramadan, yet it is
certainly less than outsideRamadan.

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His grandmother is sick and is unconscious; does she have to offer expiation for not fasting?

My grandmother has beensick for nearly a year and a half; she is not
aware of her surroundings and does not speak and does not ask for
food, but when we give her food, she eats. Sometimes she knows who is
speaking toher (which is rare), but she does not tell us what she
wants from us (she does not say: "I want a bath, may Allaah bless
you"). She is sleeping on abed without moving, and her children help
her to move. I want to ask aboutfasting and prayer; shouldwe pay
fidyah on her behalf and do we have to do anything for the time that
is past?.
Praise be to Allaah.
If a person reaches a stage of senility and feeble-mindedness, loses
his or her mental capacity and is no longer aware, the obligations of
fasting and prayer are waived, and he does not have to offer
expiation, because one of the conditions of being accountable is that
one should be of sound mind.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "The Pen
has been lifted from three: from the sleeping person until he wakes
up, from the minor until he grows up, and from the insane person until
he comes to his senses." Narrated by Abu Dawood (4403), al-Tirmidhi
(1423),al-Nasaa'i (3432), Ibn Majaah (2041). Abu Dawood said: It was
narrated by Ibn Jurayj from al-Qaasim ibn Yazeed from 'Ali (may Allaah
be pleased with him) from the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him). He added "andthe senile".
This hadeeth was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani inSaheeh Abi Dawood.
It says in 'Awn al-Ma'bood: Senility refers to when the mind becomes
no longer sound because of old age. What is meant here is the old man
has lost his mind because of old age. The elderly person may become
confused and losehis power of discernment,which means that he is
nolonger qualified to be regarded as accountable, but he cannot be
called insane. End quote.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Fasting is
not obligatory unless certain conditions are met: (i) being of sound
mind; (ii) being an adult; (iii) being a Muslim; (iv) being able to do
it; (v) being resident (i.e., not travelling); (vi) being free of
menses or nifaas (post-partum bleeding), in the case of women.
With regard to the first, being of sound mind – theopposite is loss of
reason, whether it is due to insanity or senility, meaning old age, or
an accident which causes a person to lose consciousness and
feeling.Such a person does not have to do anything, because he is no
longer ofsound mind. Based on this, this elderly person who has
reached the stage of senility does not have to fast or feed the poor,
because he is not of sound mind. End quote from Liqa' al-Baab
al-Maftooh (4/220).
With regard to the past, if she was in this state, and was not aware
and could not understand anything, then she does not have tofast or
offer expiation.
If she was aware and could understand, but shedid not fast because she
was sick, then one of two scenarios must apply:
1. If at that time she was hoping to recover from her sickness,
but the sickness continued, then she does not have to do anything,
because what she had to do was make up the fasts when she recovered,
but she did notrecover.
2. If at that time there was no hope of recovery, then she should
offer expiation for each day, which is feeding one poorperson, half a
saa' of the local staple food. If she did not offer this expiation,
then you must offer it now from her wealth.
We ask Allaah to heal her and make her well, and toguide and help you.
And Allaah knows best.

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Muslims say they do not believe in the Bible. Yet, when it is convenient for them, they quote verses out of context to prove their claims. Isn't this a dishonest wayof going about It?

It is wrong and dishonest to quote anything or any book out of
context, whether it be the Bible or the Qur'an. No Muslim should
resort to such an approach. God wants us to spread the truth by honest
means only. Having said that, it shouldalso be said that Muslims,
Christians and Jews do notbelieve in every single thing that the Bible
says. No reasonable person can do that.
I Samuel chapter 17, verses 23 & 50 says that David killed Goliath. II
Samuel 21:19 says that Elhanan killed Goliath. I Chronicles 20:5 says
that Elhanan killed not Goliath but the brother of Goliath whose name
is given as Lahmi. Obviously, no reasonable person should believe all
three reports.
Knowing this, the editors of the King James Bible decided to fix this
problem by making a slight correction to the Bible. They inserted
three words in II Samuel 21:19 to make it say there also that Elhanan
killed the brother of Goliath. You will notice that the three words
the brother of appear there in italics to distinguish them from
therest of the Bible.
The Interpreter's One Volume Commentary on the Bible calls this
a"conflict of tradition about Goliath" (p.179; seealso p. 212). It
says further that the author of Chronicles changed the story where it
said that Elhanan killed Goliath to make it say that Elhanan killed
Lahmi the brother of Goliath. The same commentary says further that
the statement in I Chronicles is "incorrect" (p.180). So here we have
a Bible commentary writtenby Christians, published by Christians, and
sold in Christian bookstores - yet it openly disagrees with a
statement in the Bible. This was done not because Christians wantedto
disbelieve in the Bible, but because they had to choose, among
different statements in the Bible, which statement is more believable.
Now, this approach to theBible does not mean that Christians cannot
refer to the Bible or quote from it or write commentaries onit.
Likewise for Muslims. Although Muslims, like their Christian and
Jewish neighbors, do not believe in every single thing the Bible says,
students of comparative religion should be allowed to study both the
Qur'an andthe Bible. Every honest student, however, will pay close
attention to the context of what he or she reads, and apply scrupulous
exactitude when quoting from eitherbook.
May God help us and guide us all to understandHis true message
regardless in which book that truth is contained.

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