Is it permissible for a man who wishes to get married to approach a divorced woman during her waiting period (iddah) and express his interest in marrying her once her waiting period is over?
It is not permissible to express an interest in marriage or insinuate a proposal of marriage to a married woman or one who is in a revocable waiting period of divorce (iddah raj’iyyah) when there is danger of it causing the woman to become recalcitrant, and based on obligatory precaution, should not be done under any circumstance. As for a woman in an irrevocable waiting period (iddah ba’inah), whether due to death or some other reason, it is permissible to intimate a proposal of marriage; rather, it is permissible to explicitly express interest.