Volume 7, Book 63, Number 251:
Narrated Humaid bin Nafi’:
Zainab bint Abu Salama told me these three narrations: Zainab said: I went to Um Habiba, the wife
of the Prophet when her father, Abu- Sufyan bin Herb had died. Um ,Habiba asked for a perfume
which contained yellow scent (Khaluq) or some other scent, and she first perfumed one of the girls
with it and then rubbed her cheeks with it and said, “By Allah, I am not in need of perfume, but I
have heard Allah’s Apostle saying, ‘It is not lawful for a lady who believes in Allah and the Last Day
to mourn for a dead person for more than three days unless he is her husband for whom she should
mourn for four months and ten days.’ ” Zainab further said: I want to Zainab bint Jahsh when her
brother died. She asked for perfume and used some of it and said, “By Allah, I am not in need of per –
fume, but I have heard Allah’s Apostle saying on the pulpit, ‘It is not lawful for a lady who believes in
Allah and the last day to mourn for more than three days except for her husband for whom she
should mourn for four months and ten days.’ ” Zainab further said, “I heard my mother, Um Salama
saying that a woman came to Allah’s Apostle and said, “O Allah’s Apostle! The husband of my daugh –
ter has died and she is suffering from an eye disease, can she apply kohl to her eye?” Allah’s Apostle
replied, “No,” twice or thrice. (Every time she repeated her question) he said, “No.” Then Allah’s
Apostle added, “It is just a matter of four months and ten days. In the Pre-Islamic Period of ignorance
a widow among you should throw a globe of dung when one year has elapsed.” I said to Zainab,
“What does ‘throwing a globe of dung when one year had elapsed’ mean?” Zainab said, “When a lady
was bereaved of her husband, she would live in a wretched small room and put on the worst clothes
she had and would not touch any scent till one year had elapsed. Then she would bring an animal,
e.g. a donkey, a sheep or a bird and rub her body against it. The animal against which she would rub
her body would scarcely survive. Only then she would come out of her room, whereupon she would
be given a globe of dung which she would throw away and then she would use the scent she liked or
the like.”
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SAHIH BUKHARI VOLUME 7 > BOOK 63: DIVORCE