A woman should not mourn for any dead person more than three days except her husband, for whom she should mourn four months and ten days It is not lawful for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to mourn for a deceased more than three [days], but for her husband, four months and ten days The wife of Thābit ibn Qays was separated from her husband by a Khul‘ during the time of the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him). So the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) ordered her to observe a waiting period of one menstrual cycle Barīrah was instructed to observe an ‘Iddah of three menstrual cycles When a woman’s husband died, she would go into a small hut, wear her worst clothes and would not touch any kind of perfume until a whole year would pass. Then an animal – a donkey, bird, or sheep – would be brought to her and she would rub her skin with it Hadīth of Subay‘ah al-Aslamiyyah regarding ‘Iddah No, go and collect the harvest from your trees, for perhaps you will give (some of it in) charity or do a good deed with it Stay in your house until the term (of ‘Iddah) lapses. She said: So I spent my ‘Iddah therein (in her husband's house) for four months and ten days O Messenger of Allah, my husband has divorced me three times and I am afraid that my house will be broken into Do not confuse the Sunnah of our Prophet. The ‘Iddah of a mother-slave girl whose master dies is four months and ten (days) ‘Urwah ibn Az-Zubayr reported from ‘Ā’ishah that she took Hafsah bint ‘Abdur-Rahmān ibn Abu Bakr As-Siddīq into her house when she was in her third period A slave has two counts of divorce to discharge toward his free wife, who shall observe a waiting period of three menstrual cycles. A free man has two counts of divorce to discharge toward his slave wife, who shall observe a waiting period of two menstrual cycles A woman whose husband is missing and whose whereabouts is unknown to her must wait for four years and then observe the ‘Iddah (of a widow) for four months and ten days. After that, she is allowed to marry There should be no sexual intercourse with a pregnant woman until she gives birth, nor with a non-pregnant woman until she has one menstrual cycle