All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
During her Iddah from a revocable or irrevocable (Final) divorce or due to death of husband, a woman is obliged to stay at their marital house because Allah, The Almighty, Said (WHat means): "O Prophet! When ye do divorce women, divorce them at their prescribed periods, and count (accurately), their prescribed periods: And fear God your Lord: and turn them not out of their houses, nor shall they (themselves) leave, except in case they are guilty of some open lewdness, those are limits set by God: and any who transgresses the limits of God, does verily wrong his (own) soul: thou knowest not if perchance God will bring about thereafter some new situation." {At-Talak/1}. " and turn them not out of their houses" means their husbands` houses.
Therefore, it isn`t permissible for the husband to ask his wife to leave their marital house; rather, he should, if he has the ability, allow her to remain in it.
In irrevocable divorce, the husband should isolate himself from the wife to avoid privacy and shouldn`t see from her except the hands and face or he should leave to another place of residence until her waiting period ends. Otherwise, he incurs the sin alone.
In revocable divorce, the wife should stay in the marital house, as well, but it is permissible for her to stay with him in private and to beautify herself for him since this may be a reason for his taking her back. This is the view of the Hanafie scholars (May Allah have mercy upon them) , contrary to that of the Shafies.
In all cases, the divorced woman shouldn`t leave the marital house unless she felt unsafe, and it is the duty of every Muslim, male or female, not to transgress the limits of Allah, The Almighty, since the Iddah is the right of Allah, and whoever transgresses against that right does verily wrong his own soul.
If it happens and she leaves her marital house for reasons beyond her control, then she should return to it to finish her Iddah and she is considered sinless. In all cases, her iddah ends at the end of its period.
Al-Khateeb Ash-Shirbini (May Allah have mercy on his soul) stated: " She should stay in her house where she was living when her husband died or divorced her based on the verse (Certain verse) and the Hadith by Forai`ah reported in this regard and reads, "Neither her husband nor anyone else has the right to drive her out of her marital house. Also, she may not leave it, even if that was approved by her husband, save for a sound excuse. This is because the waiting period is the Right of Allah, The Almighty, and that right can`t be revoked by their (Couple) coming back together." {Moghni Al-Mohtaj, vol.5/pp.106}. And Allah Knows Best.
