A questioner asks: Does a woman in the waiting period after her husband's death leave the house or not? And I read that the mourning garment is either undyed or dyed with threads before weaving.
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The questioner : The questioner asks: Does a woman in the waiting period after her husband's death leave the house or not? And I read that the mourning garment is either undyed or dyed with threads before weaving, so how do I know this? And is it permissible to wear white or black without tailoring? May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : The woman in mourning must observe several things in her mourning. The first: she must not wear adornment, meaning clothes that are considered adornment and beautification. She may wear whatever clothes she wishes other than that, whether red, yellow, black, green, or colored. As for white, in our custom and in our lands it is considered adornment, so she does not wear it. The colored dyed garment that is not among the clothes of adornment is permissible, whether it was dyed before weaving or after weaving. There is no evidence distinguishing between what was woven and what came after.
Second: It is obligatory for the mourning woman to avoid adornment in all its forms, whether in the ear, hand, foot, on the chest, or on the neck. Accordingly, if she has earrings, she must remove them. If she has a gold tooth, she must remove it, unless doing so would cause mutilation, in which case it remains, but she must strive not to show it.
Third: It is obligatory for her not to color her body with adornment. She does not apply kohl, does not redden her lips, and does not use henna, because all of that is beautification.
Fourth: It is obligatory for her not to leave the house, neither at night nor during the day, neither to visit a relative nor to visit a sick person nor for anything else, except if she needs to leave for an illness to reach the hospital, or needs to leave for the court for proof or acknowledgment or the like. In these cases, she leaves during the day and does not leave at night, because the scholars said: The mourning woman leaves the house during the day for need, and leaves the house at night for dire necessity. As for telephone calls, answering those who knock on the door, and seeing men or men entering her house, she is in the waiting period like any other woman; what is permissible for others is permissible for her. Accordingly, it is permissible for her to answer the telephone, it is permissible for her to speak to those who knock on the door, and it is permissible for those who are not her mahram to enter the house, such as her husband's brothers and the like, but without being alone with them. As for her going out at night to the roof of the house or to its walled courtyard, there is no harm in it, whether she sees the moon or there is no moon. As for what is popular among the common people that she does not go out to the moon at night, this has no basis in the Qur'an, nor in the Sunnah, nor in the words of the scholars. Mourning is obligatory only during the waiting period. So if she was pregnant and gave birth on the day her husband died, the waiting period ended and the mourning ended. And if she did not know of her husband's death until after the waiting period had passed, then there is no mourning for her and no waiting period, because the beginning of the waiting period and mourning is from the husband's death, not from knowing of his death. It is calculated from the husband's death. So if it happens that she did not know of his death until after four months and ten days had passed, there is no mourning for her and no waiting period, because it has ended. And if she knew of it two months after his death, she observes the remainder of the waiting period, which is two months and ten days.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : The woman in mourning must observe several things in her mourning. The first: she must not wear adornment, meaning clothes that are considered adornment and beautification. She may wear whatever clothes she wishes other than that, whether red, yellow, black, green, or colored. As for white, in our custom and in our lands it is considered adornment, so she does not wear it. The colored dyed garment that is not among the clothes of adornment is permissible, whether it was dyed before weaving or after weaving. There is no evidence distinguishing between what was woven and what came after.
Second: It is obligatory for the mourning woman to avoid adornment in all its forms, whether in the ear, hand, foot, on the chest, or on the neck. Accordingly, if she has earrings, she must remove them. If she has a gold tooth, she must remove it, unless doing so would cause mutilation, in which case it remains, but she must strive not to show it.
Third: It is obligatory for her not to color her body with adornment. She does not apply kohl, does not redden her lips, and does not use henna, because all of that is beautification.
Fourth: It is obligatory for her not to leave the house, neither at night nor during the day, neither to visit a relative nor to visit a sick person nor for anything else, except if she needs to leave for an illness to reach the hospital, or needs to leave for the court for proof or acknowledgment or the like. In these cases, she leaves during the day and does not leave at night, because the scholars said: The mourning woman leaves the house during the day for need, and leaves the house at night for dire necessity. As for telephone calls, answering those who knock on the door, and seeing men or men entering her house, she is in the waiting period like any other woman; what is permissible for others is permissible for her. Accordingly, it is permissible for her to answer the telephone, it is permissible for her to speak to those who knock on the door, and it is permissible for those who are not her mahram to enter the house, such as her husband's brothers and the like, but without being alone with them. As for her going out at night to the roof of the house or to its walled courtyard, there is no harm in it, whether she sees the moon or there is no moon. As for what is popular among the common people that she does not go out to the moon at night, this has no basis in the Qur'an, nor in the Sunnah, nor in the words of the scholars. Mourning is obligatory only during the waiting period. So if she was pregnant and gave birth on the day her husband died, the waiting period ended and the mourning ended. And if she did not know of her husband's death until after the waiting period had passed, then there is no mourning for her and no waiting period, because the beginning of the waiting period and mourning is from the husband's death, not from knowing of his death. It is calculated from the husband's death. So if it happens that she did not know of his death until after four months and ten days had passed, there is no mourning for her and no waiting period, because it has ended. And if she knew of it two months after his death, she observes the remainder of the waiting period, which is two months and ten days.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.