Musnad Imam Shafi'i

And Zainab narrated that I heard from my mother, Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her), she said: A woman came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “O Messenger of Allah ﷺ! My daughter’s husband has passed away, and her eyes are in bad condition. Can she apply kohl?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “No,” and said it two or three times, each time saying, “No.” Then he said, “The (prescribed waiting period) is four months and ten days. In the time of ignorance, you used to throw dung after a year.” (Meaning, in the time of ignorance, the waiting period was a year, and now you cannot be patient for four months and ten days.) Zainab (may Allah be pleased with her) said: When a woman’s husband died (in the time of ignorance), she would enter a small room and wear the worst clothes, and would not use perfume or anything else until a year passed in that state. Then, to come out of the waiting period, an animal—a donkey, goat, or some bird—would be brought, and she would hold it. It was rare that she would hold a part of the animal and it would not die. Then she would come out of the waiting period, and she would be given dung, which she would throw away. Then she would use perfume or something else. Imam Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Hifsh” means a small house made of hair or bricks, and “al-qabs” means to hold a part of the animal with your fingers, and “qabz” means to hold with the whole palm.