"Yes." She said: So I went out, and when I was in the chamber, or in the mosque, he called me, or sent for me and I was called to him. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "What did you say?" I repeated the story to him, and he said: "Stay in your house until the Book (the prescribed period) reaches its end." I observed 'iddah (waiting period) in it for four months and ten days. When Uthman ibn Affan became (caliph), he sent for me, asked me about that, and I informed him, and he followed it and judged by it. It was narrated by Malik in his Muwatta' (41) and by al-Athram; and it is an authentic hadith, for Uthman judged by it in the presence of a group of the Sahaba, and they did not deny it. When (42) this is established, then it is mandatory to observe the 'iddah in the house where her husband died and she was residing, regardless of whether it was owned by her husband, or (held) by lease, or as a loan, because the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to Furay'a (43): "Stay in your house." She was not in a house owned by her husband, and in some of its versions: "Observe your 'iddah in the house in which you received the news of your husband's death." And in a version: "Observe your 'iddah where the news reached you." If the news reached her in a place other than her residence, she must return to her residence and observe it there. Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab and al-Nakha'i said: She must not leave the place where she was when the news of her husband's death reached her, following the wording of the report we narrated. Our evidence is his saying (peace be upon him): "Stay in your house." The other wording is a specific case, and this is what is intended by it, for particular cases do not have general application. Moreover, it cannot be interpreted generally, for it is not required for her (44) to observe 'iddah in the marketplace, the road, or the wilderness if the news reached her while she was in them.
Section: If she fears a collapse, flooding, an enemy, or similar things, or the owner of the house moves her
(41) In: The Chapter on the stay of the woman whose husband has died in her house until she is permitted (to remarry), from the Book of Divorce. al-Muwatta' 2/591. It was also recorded by Abu Dawud in: The Chapter on the woman whose husband has died moving (from her house), from the Book of Divorce. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/536, 537; and by al-Tirmidhi in: The Chapter on what has been narrated regarding where the woman whose husband has died observes 'iddah, from the Book of Divorce. 'Aridat al-Ahwadhi 5/195, 196; and by al-Nasa'i in: The Chapter on the stay of the woman whose husband has died in her house until she is permitted (to remarry), from the Book of Divorce. al-Mujtaba 6/165, 166; and by Ibn Majah in: The Chapter on where the woman whose husband has died observes 'iddah, from the Book of Divorce. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/654, 655; and by al-Darimi in: The Chapter on the going out of the woman whose husband has died, from the Book of Divorce. Sunan al-Darimi 2/168. (42) In B, M: "Wa-idha" (And when). (43) In M: "li-Furay'a" (for Furay'a). (44) In B: "yalzam" (is required).
