He cited a number of reports, among them the ḥadīth of Abū Mūsā, may Allah be pleased with him. He had fallen unconscious while his head lay in the lap of one of his female relatives, and the woman whose lap supported him began to wail with a piercing cry—that is, she engaged in niyāḥah. When he came to, he said, “I disown whatever the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, disowned. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is innocent of the ṣāliqa, the ḥāliqa, and the shāqqa.”
The ṣāliqa—derived from ṣalq, “to raise the voice”—is the woman who screams and lifts her voice in lamentation at a calamity. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, declared himself free of such conduct, and we call Allah to witness that we likewise renounce everything from which the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, declared himself free, and every deed he repudiated.
As for the ḥāliqa, the custom among women in the pre-Islamic era was that, when struck by a death, a woman would shave her head in anger. Yet a woman’s hair is her adornment; length and thickness are prized among women. In our own times, however—after people opened themselves to the ways of unbelieving women and those who imitate them—some women now try to shorten their hair until their heads resemble those of men, Allah’s refuge is sought.
The shāqqa is the one who, when afflicted by a calamity, tears the front of her garment; the woman who ruffles and dishevels her hair on such occasions is likewise included. Every act that betrays impatience and resentment falls under the disavowal pronounced by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
These ḥadīths further show that if a wailing woman does not repent before she dies, she will be raised on the Day of Resurrection from her grave wearing a sirbāl of molten tar and a coat (dirʿ) that clings to her body, fashioned from scabs. A sirbāl is simply a garment, while a dirʿ is something that adheres to the flesh. The meaning is that her very skin will be mangy—Allah’s protection is sought. Mange is a well-known condition: an incessant itching that makes the skin erupt. When her skin is ridden with mange and she is clothed in a garment of tar, the blaze of punishment in the Fire is all the more intense.