Some Rulings on Mourning

Question: Is a widow allowed to apply facial adornment such as kohl? Kindly advise, and may Allah bless you.

Answer: If by “widow” she means a woman who is still observing the waiting period (ʿiddah) after her husband’s death—the period about which Allah says, “Those among you who die and leave wives behind shall wait by themselves for four months and ten (days)” (Qur’an 2:234)—then this is the ʿiddah of bereavement, and during it it is unlawful for her to beautify herself in any way: not with jewellery, not with dyes, nor with anything else. Throughout this time she is not to adorn herself or wear any ornament; she must also refrain from perfume and from kohl that is used for beautification. She may, however, treat her eyes with a medicinal kohl that carries no element of adornment.

Cosmetic kohl, henna, the modern kinds of make-up women use today, all varieties of perfume, every type of jewellery, and garments intended for adornment are all forbidden to her for the duration of the waiting period. This abstention from adornment is called iḥdād during the ʿiddah: it means leaving and shunning anything that might entice onlookers, such as forms of beautification, fragrance, embellishment, and the like.

She must also remain in the house in which her husband died and where she was living, until the prescribed term is complete; she is not to leave it except for a legitimate Sharʿī reason.

If, however, by “widow” she means a woman who has finished her ʿiddah and has no husband, then she may adorn and beautify herself, provided she does not display that adornment to unrelated men. She may beautify herself only in situations where there is no temptation, and not