The waiting period of a woman whose husband has died, if he is far from her
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Ahmad from Ta'if, please, Ahmad. Peace be upon you. And upon you be peace.
The Shaykh:
Peace.
The questioner:
I have two questions, Honorable Shaykh. One is that I have an elderly woman whose husband, meaning he left her, perhaps for about seventeen years. She says, God forbid, he passed away in front of her. Is it possible that she does not observe the waiting period for him?
The Shaykh:
As long as she remains in his marriage bond and he has not divorced her, if he dies, then she must observe the waiting period for a widow.[Al-Baqarah 2:234] This is an obligatory matter. The waiting period is obligatory for a woman whose husband has died, even if he was far from her and did not cohabit with her or provide for her. The waiting period is not waived for her as long as she remains in his marriage bond and he has not divorced her.
Ahmad from Ta'if, please, Ahmad. Peace be upon you. And upon you be peace.
The Shaykh:
Peace.
The questioner:
I have two questions, Honorable Shaykh. One is that I have an elderly woman whose husband, meaning he left her, perhaps for about seventeen years. She says, God forbid, he passed away in front of her. Is it possible that she does not observe the waiting period for him?
The Shaykh:
As long as she remains in his marriage bond and he has not divorced her, if he dies, then she must observe the waiting period for a widow.
And those who are taken in death among you and leave wives behind - they, [the wives, shall] wait four months and ten [days]
وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا
Source
فتاوى على الهواء 21-12-1435هـ — alfawzan.live (32:37)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.