Hadith: 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

عن الفُرَيْعَةَ بنت مالك بن سنان، وهي أخت أبي سعيد الخدري رضي الله عنهما أنها جاءت إلى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم تسأله أن ترجع إلى أهلها في بني خُدْرَةَ، فإن زوجها خرج في طلب أَعْبُدٍ له أَبَقُوا، حتى إذا كانوا بِطَرَفِ الْقَدُومِ لحقهم فقتلوه، فسألت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : أن أرجع إلى أهلي، فإني لم يتركني في مسكن يملكه، ولا نفقة؟ قالت: فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : «نعم»، قالت: فخرجت حتى إذا كنت في الحُجْرَةِ، أو في المسجد، دعاني، أو أمر بي، فَدُعِيتُ له، فقال: «كيف قلت؟»، فرددت عليه القصة التي ذكرت من شأن زوجي، قالت: فقال: «امْكُثِي في بيتك حتى يبلغ الكتاب أَجَلَهُ»، قالت: فاعتددت فيه أربعة أشهرٍ وعشرًا، قالت: فلما كان عثمان بن عفان أرسل إِلَيَّ فسألني عن ذلك، فأخبرته فَاتَّبَعَهُ، وقضى به.
[صحيح] - [رواه أبو داود والترمذي والنسائي وابن ماجه ومالك والدارمي وأحمد]

Furay‘ah bint Mālik ibn Sinān, sister of Abu Sa‘īd al-Khudri, reported that she went to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and asked him if she could return to her family, Banu Khudrah, because her husband went out chasing his slaves who ran away; and when he caught them at the borders of Al-Qadūm, they killed him. She said: "I asked the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) if I could go back to my people, for he (the murdered husband) did not leave me in a dwelling of his own, nor did he leave me with any financial maintenance?" She said: "The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) replied: 'Yes.'" She said: "I went out, and when I was in the apartment or in the mosque, he called for me, or he commanded someone to call me and he said: 'What did you say?' So I repeated my story which I had already mentioned about my husband. Thereupon he said: '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. When ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān became the caliph, he sent for me and asked me about that; so I informed him, and he followed it and decided cases accordingly.’"
[Authentic hadith] - [Narrated by Ibn Majah - Narrated by At-Termedhy - An-Nasaa’i - Narrated by Abu Daoud - Narrated by Ahmad - Ad-Daarimi]

Explanation

This Hadīth shows that a female Companion whose husband died wanted to spend her ‘Iddah in a house different from the one she used to live in with her husband. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) told her that Allah made it obligatory for her to remain in her husband's house until her ‘Iddah lapses. This Hadīth sets a basic rule that the woman whose husband dies must remain in the house she used to live in with her husband until her ‘Iddah and mourning period lapse. This period ends with the delivery of a baby if the widowed woman is pregnant, or by spending full four months and ten days if she is not pregnant.