What is required of a woman during the mourning period for her husband

Question:
What is required of a woman during the mourning period for her husband? Is she prohibited from drinking saffron in coffee, or using agarwood incense, or the like?

Answer:
Regarding the mourning period, there are reports in the hadiths about what she should refrain from. The mourning period requires five things:
The first thing: she must stay in the house where her husband died and she was residing. She remains there and stays there until the waiting period ends, which is four months and ten days, unless she is pregnant, in which case she is released from the waiting period by giving birth, as Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Talaq: 4]. She is permitted to go out for a need, such as if she has a servant, she goes out for her need to bring food, or the like, if she has no one to serve her. Likewise, going out for the need of a doctor, if she is ill, or if the house has collapsed and she goes out of it, or if she has no companion and she fears for herself; there is no harm in this when there is a need.
The second thing: she is not allowed to wear beautiful clothes, not yellow, not green, nor anything else. Rather, she wears non-beautiful clothes, she wears clothes that are not beautiful, whether they are black, green, blue, or otherwise. As for beautiful clothes, she does not wear them. She does not wear beautiful dyed clothes, but she wears non-beautiful clothes. This is how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded.
The third.: Avoiding jewelry of gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, and the like. She does not wear jewelry, necklaces, bracelets, rings, or the like until the period ends.
The fourth: Perfume. She does not use perfume, not with incense, nor with any other perfume, except if she menstruates, in which case she may use some incense when she is purified from menstruation specifically, but not the rest of the perfumes.
The fifth: Kohl. She is not allowed to apply kohl, nor anything that is in the meaning of kohl for beautifying the face, the specific beautification that may cause people to be tempted by her. As for ordinary beautification with water and ordinary soap, there is no harm in that. But the kohl that beautifies the eyes, and things similar to kohl that women do to their faces, she does not do this during her mourning period. These five things should be observed for the sake of need.
As for what some of the common people may think, and they also fabricate, that she does not speak to anyone, that she does not speak on the telephone, that she does not take a bath except once a week, that she does not walk barefoot in her house, that she goes out in the place of the moon, and the like of these superstitions, these have no basis. She walks in her house barefoot, and with shoes on, she relieves herself in the house, she cooks her food and the food of her guests, she walks in the moonlight, on the roof, in the courtyard, in the house, all of this is permissible. She bathes whenever she wishes, she speaks to whom she wishes in a manner that is not suspicious, she shakes hands with women, she shakes hands with her mahrams, there is no harm. As for non-mahrams, no. But she shakes hands with her mahrams, and women, there is no harm.
Likewise, she speaks to whom she wishes, and he speaks to her, consoles her, and asks her about a need. He greets her on the telephone, and asks her about a need, or she asks him about a need, all of this is permissible.
And saffron is a type of perfume, so saffron is not used, it is not used in clothes, nor in coffee. Saffron is a type of perfume. She is not proposed to while she is in the waiting period, but there is no harm in hinting. As for the proposal, "So-and-so wants you," no. But hinting, like: "Someone like you is desired, you are precious to us," and the like, but not explicitly.

Question: And henna? May Allah reward you with good?

Answer: Henna is not used; because it contains adornment and beauty.