مختصر صحيح مسلم

Mukhtasar Muslim

Issues of Iddah (Waiting Period)

Mourning and not using kohl during iddah for the deceased.

1 hadith

Toggle above to switch between keyword search and direct hadith lookup

Hadith 863
Humaid bin Nafi’ narrates from Zainab bint Abi Salamah that she informed him (Humaid) about these three hadiths. He says that Zainab said that when the father of Umm al-Mu’minin Umm Habibah (may Allah be pleased with her), Abu Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him), passed away, I went to her. Umm al-Mu’minin Umm Habibah (may Allah be pleased with her) asked for perfume, which was yellow khuluq (a type of compound perfume), or it was some other perfume, and she applied it to a girl (with her own hands), then rubbed her hands on her cheeks and said, “By Allah, I had no need for perfume, but (this was only to teach ordinary women). I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying from the pulpit: ‘It is not permissible for one who believes in Allah and the Last Day to mourn for a deceased person for more than three days, except for a woman whose husband has died; she should mourn for four months and ten days.’”

Zainab said: Then I went to Zainab bint Jahsh (may Allah be pleased with her) when her brother died, and she also asked for perfume and applied it, then said, “By Allah, I had no need for perfume, but I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying from the pulpit: ‘It is not permissible for one who believes in Allah and the Last Day to mourn for a deceased person for more than three days, except for a woman whose husband has died; she should mourn for four months and ten days.’”

Sayyidah Zainab (may Allah be pleased with her) said: I heard my mother, Umm al-Mu’minin Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her), saying that a woman came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, “O Messenger of Allah! My daughter’s husband has died and her eyes are hurting; can I apply kohl to her eyes?” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “No.” The woman asked two or three times, and each time the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “No.” Then he said, “Now the waiting period is only four months and ten days. In the time of ignorance, a woman would throw dung after completing a whole year.” (The narrator of the hadith) Humaid says: I asked Zainab (may Allah be pleased with her), “What does it mean that she would throw dung after a year?” Zainab (may Allah be pleased with her) said, “(In the time of ignorance) when a woman’s husband died, she would enter a nest (i.e., a small and ugly house), wear the worst of clothes, not apply perfume or anything else, until a year passed. Then an animal would be brought to her—a donkey, a goat, or a bird—with which she would break her waiting period (she would rub it on her skin or pass her hand over it). It was rare for that animal to survive (most often it would die, perhaps due to some satanic effect or because of the poisonous substance that developed on her body from living in a dirty nest). Then she would come out, and they would give her a dung pellet, which she would throw away, and then she would apply whatever perfume she wished.”
Hadith Reference مختصر صحيح مسلم / 863