Divorce

Subay‘ah al-Aslamiyyah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that she was married to Sa‘d ibn Khawlah, who belonged to the tribe of ‘Āmir ibn Lu’ay. He was one of the Companions who participated in the battle of Badr. He died during the Farewell Hajj while Subay‘ah was pregnant. Shortly after his death, she delivered her child. When her post-natal bleeding stopped, she beautified herself for prospective suitors. Abu As-Sanābil ibn Ba‘kak (a man from the tribe of Banu ‘Abd Ad-Dār) entered upon her and said: "Why are you thus adorned? Perhaps you wish to remarry? By Allah, you cannot remarry unless four months and ten days (of ‘Iddah) have passed." Subay‘ah said: "When he said that, I put on my clothes in the evening and I went to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him). I asked him about that, and he gave me a Fatwa that remarrying had became lawful to me when I delivered my child, and he ordered me to marry if I so wished." Ibn Shihāb said: "I do not find anything wrong with her marrying right after she gives birth, even if she is still bleeding (post-partum) except that her new husband should not approach her until she attains purity (when the bleeding stops).

A relative of Umm Habībah died, so she asked for a yellow perfume and wiped it over her arms and said: "I do this only because I heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) say: It is not lawful for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to mourn for a deceased more than three [days], but for her husband, four months and ten days.'"

’Umm ‘Atiyyah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A woman should not mourn for any dead person more than three days except her husband, for whom she should mourn four months and ten days. She should not wear dyed clothes (while in mourning) except ‘Asb (an unattractive Yemeni garment), nor should she apply kohl or touch perfume, except when she becomes purified (from her menses), as she may then apply a little Qust or Azhfār (types of incense)."

Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported: A woman came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, my daughter’s husband died, and she complains about her eye. Can we apply Kohl thereto?" The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said 'No' twice or thrice. Then he said: "It is only four months and ten days. In the pre-Islamic era, you women would throw away the dung after a year had passed." Zaynab said: “When a woman’s husband died, she would go into a small hut, wear her worst clothes and would not touch any kind of perfume until a whole year would pass. Then an animal – a donkey, bird, or sheep – would be brought to her and she would rub her skin with it. It was seldom that she would rub her skin with any animal except that it died! Then she would come out and be given a piece of dung, which she would throw away. Then, she would return to using perfume or anything else she liked.”