Chapter

A woman observing the waiting period following her husband’s death must remain in the home in which that waiting period became obligatory. If she moves out through fear, coercion, or a legitimate right, she may relocate wherever she wishes. She may go out during the day, but not at night, to attend to her needs. If she abandons mourning, she is sinful, though her waiting period is completed with the passage of its prescribed time.

His statement, “A woman observing the waiting period following her husband’s death must remain in the home in which that waiting period became obligatory”: this too concerns the mourning woman. It is the fifth of the duties incumbent upon her: remaining in the home.

His statement, “in the home in which it became obligatory”: the expression “where” is an adverb of place connected to an omitted word and functioning as a circumstantial qualifier of “the home”; that is, the home in which she was residing when the waiting period became obligatory.

Or we may say that it is in apposition to “the home,” meaning: the waiting period following death must be observed where it became obligatory. This is closer to the intended meaning. In any case, if the waiting period following death becomes obligatory while she is in a home, she must observe it there and not leave it.

The waiting period following death becomes obligatory upon the husband’s death. Thus, if her husband dies while she is living in a house, she completes her waiting period in that house.

His statement, “in the home in which it became obligatory”: if her husband dies while she is in her family’s home, but she had gone to visit them rather than to reside there, she must return to her husband’s home. Likewise, if her husband is in hospital and dies while she is with him there, she does not observe her waiting period in the hospital, because it is not her home. Rather, she observes it in the home where she resides. Similarly, if he dies while she is, for example, visiting her neighbours, she returns to her husband’s home.

If her husband dies after she has travelled with him, does she remain in the town to which she travelled, or return to her hometown? The scholars said: if she has not passed the distance at which prayers may be shortened, she returns to her original home; but if she has passed that distance, she may choose between remaining in the town to which she travelled and returning to her hometown.