962 – Umm ʿAtiyyah (d. [unknown] AH) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “A woman is not to observe mourning for anyone who dies for more than three days, except for her husband, in which case the term is four months and ten days. During that period she is not to wear any dyed garment, except a garment of ʿaṣb; she is not to apply kohl to her eyes, nor to touch perfume—unless, once she becomes pure after menstruation, she brushes on a trace of qust or azfār.” Agreed upon, and this wording is Muslim’s.

Abu Dawud and al-Nasaʾi add: “and she is not to apply henna.”

Al-Nasaʾi also records: “and she is not to comb her hair.” (1)

Degree of the ḥadith:
The additions cited by Abu Dawud and al-Nasaʾi are traced back to the Prophet and are sound; their narrators are trustworthy.

Vocabulary and Notes:
• lā tuḥidd: second-person feminine singular of the quadriliteral verb aḥadda. It can be read with ḍamma on the dāl if lā is taken as negating, or with sukūn if lā is prohibitive. Aḥaddat al-marʾah means that a woman enters the state of iḥdād: she grieves, wears mourning clothes for her husband, and abandons adornment. The same meaning can be expressed with the triliteral verb ḥaddat; the triliteral conjugates like naṣara, while the quadriliteral follows the pattern of akrama.

• except for her husband: The exception may be regarded as continuous if “four months” is taken in the accusative as a clarification of “beyond three,” i.e., “I mean four months.” It can also be viewed as a separate (disconnected) exception: No woman may mourn anyone for more than three days; however, she may mourn her husband for four months.