from his aunt Zaynab, who related from al-Furayʿah, the sister of Abū Saʿīd:

Her husband had hired (1) some laborers for him, and they murdered him. She reported the matter to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “I am not living in any house that belongs to him, nor do I receive any provision from his estate. May I move to the houses of my family and stay with them?”

He replied, “Observe your ʿidda (waiting period) wherever the news reaches you.”

We also transmitted the full report with a higher chain: Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Khāliq ibn ʿUlwān—by my own recitation—told us; al-Bahāʾ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān informed us; Shuhda the scribe informed us; Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Qādir informed us; ʿUthmān ibn Dust informed us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥasan al-Harbī narrated to us; al-Qaʿnabī narrated to us; Mālik reported, from Saʿd ibn Isḥāq, from his aunt Zaynab bint Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah:

Al-Furayʿah bint Mālik ibn Sinān—she was the sister of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī—told her:

She came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asking permission to return to her clan among Banū Khudrah, for her husband had gone out in pursuit of some runaway slaves of his. When he reached the area of Ẓahr al-Qadūm (2), he caught up with them and they killed him.

She said, “I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to let me go back to my family, for my husband has left me neither a dwelling he owns nor any maintenance.”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Yes.”

I left, and he said, “What did you say?”

I repeated the whole story to him, and he said, “Stay in your house until the decree reaches its prescribed term.”

So I completed my ʿidda there—four months and ten days (3). Later, when ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān was caliph, he sent for me and asked me about this matter,