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Fatwa CenterRuling on a woman whose husband died two hours after concluding the marriage contract
Question
In the Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Ever Merciful
What is the Sharee‘ah ruling on a man who liked to marry, and just two hours after concluding the marriage contract, he died because of a car accident, before consummating the marriage with his wife?
Give us a Fatwa in this respect. May Allaah Reward you.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
As for the woman whose husband died before consummating marriage with her, a four-month-and-ten-day ‘Iddah is due on her. Ibn Qudaamah 
said in his Al-Mughni, "There is consensus among scholars that the ‘Iddah of the free Muslim woman who is not pregnant, whose husband dies, is four months and ten days, whether or not he has consummated the marriage with her, and whether or not she is of age or underage. That goes back to the Statement of Allaah Almighty (which means): {And those who are taken in death among you and leave wives behind – they, [the wives, shall] wait four months and ten [days]…}[Quran 2:234]
The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, also said:
It is unlawful for a woman who has faith in Allaah and the Last Day to mourn for any dead person for more than three days, save her husband for whom she should mourn four months and ten days. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Once a woman is married, she becomes a wife and is included in the general rule of both the Quranic verse and the Prophetic Hadeeth. This means that the dowry in full and her obligatory share of inheritance are due to her, and she should wait the same period of ‘Iddah spent by the woman whose husband dies.
It was narrated on the authority of Ibn Mas‘ood 
that he was asked about a man who married a woman and died without either fixing a dowry for her, or consummating marriage with her. On that Ibn Mas‘ood said: "She should take a dowry like that due to her fellow women without excess, spend the term of ‘Iddah, and have (her obligatory share of) inheritance." On that Ma’qal ibn Sinaan stood up and said, "The same judgment was previously given by the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, in connection with Barwa‘ bint Waashiq, a woman from us." On that, Ibn Mas‘ood rejoiced. [At-Tirmithi, Abu Daawood and others]
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