Woman in ‘iddah following the death of her husband going out to visit her childr

[bamalli]

My father has died (may Allaah have mercy on him), leaving behind my mother who is an old woman and she has children in Riyadh and elsewhere. Now she is in 'iddah and she wants to visit them or visit other people. What is the ruling on that?.

Praise be to Allaah.

The woman in mourning whose husband has died has to stay in her house and not go out, because the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allaah be upon him) said to the woman whose husband had died: "Stay in your house until the term prescribed is fulfilled (cf. al-Baqarah 2:234)." So the woman who is in mourning should stay in her house and should not wear beautiful clothes, put on perfume, apply kohl, or wear jewellery. There are five things which the woman in mourning must observe:

1.     Staying at home until her 'iddah ends.

2.     Not wearing beautiful clothes; rather she may wear clothes that are not beautiful, such as black, green, or blue -- so long as they are not beautiful.

3.     She should not wear jewellery of gold, silver, diamonds, pearls and so on. A watch is a kind of jewellery, because it is worn for beauty and adornment.

4.     Not wearing kohl; which includes putting any kind of adornment on her face that women are accustomed to doing nowadays, apart from water and soap and the like.

5.     Not wearing perfume; she should avoid all kinds of perfume except when purifying herself following menses.

She may go out for necessary purposes, such as going to court or to the hospital or to the marketplace. End quote.

Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn Baaz (11/199).