A man contracted a marriage with a woman, and the man died before the marriage was consummated

The questioner : A man contracted a marriage with a woman, and the man died before the marriage was consummated. Your Eminence, does the woman have to observe the waiting period in this case? And does she inherit? We ask Your Eminence to answer this question.

The Shaykh : If a man contracts a marriage with a woman and then dies before consummating the marriage, she must observe the waiting period for death, which is four months and ten days, due to the generality of the statement of Allah the Exalted: . She is entitled to inheritance, so she inherits one-fourth from her husband if he has no other wife and no children, and she inherits one-eighth if he has children. If he has another wife, she shares the one-eighth with her. She is also entitled to the full mahr, meaning the bridal gift that he stipulated for her; she is entitled to it in full. This is how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ruled in the case of Bara' bint Washiq. This is different from the case of a woman whose husband divorced her before consummation and seclusion, for she has no waiting period, and she is only entitled to half of the mahr, due to the statement of Allah the Exalted: and His statement: . Yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you. This is a message from a listener who used the initials A A Riyadh as a code for his name. He says in his message: