Wa-`alaykum as-salam wa Rarahmatullah wa Barakatuh

In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-giving

All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon His Prophet Muhammad.

 

Taking the dowry back by the husband is only a part of the khul` process. For khul` to be effective, your separation from your husband has to be expressed verbally or in a written form either by your husband or by a judicial decision.  The `iddah follows this expression and begins as a consequence.

 

Scholars have differed over whether kul` is a kind of talaq (divorce) or a kind of faskh (revocation of the contract). Those who regard kul` as a kind of talaq maintain that the separating wife thus has to observe three menstrual periods (or three months if she sees no menstruation) as her iddah.

 

On the other hand, those who regard khul` as a kind of faskh maintain that the separating wife has to observe only one menstrual period (or one month if she sees no menstruation) as her iddah.

 

This opinion is supported by an authentic narration on the authority of Ibn `Abbas that Thabit ibn Qays’s wife asked for khul` during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and that he commanded her to observe one menstrual period as her iddah.

 

In another narration, a woman known as al-Rubayyi` bint Mu`awwidh said that she asked for khul` during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and that he commanded her to observe one menstrual period as her iddah.

 

Therefore, this second opinion sounds more preponderant.

 

Allah Almighty knows best.