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not married. The family is expected to receive her as one
of them on the same basis an before her marriage. They should never
abandon her Obligation is laid on either father or brother to.,,
support her.
I They were . also able to bequeath inheritance to her
and on theýother hand, to inherit from her.
The safeguards for the woman which are thus built into the.
divorce procedures are equalled by her rights in her position as a
widow. I
Widow's Rights
Islam protected widows by establishing a ýystem of rights and duties
that secured their lives as opposed to their position, before Islam.
It is their duty to refrain*from marriage for the legally prescribed
period, which is four months, ten days.
. During, these days, they
should mourn their husbands. abandon ornamentation and the delights
of life in respect for the deceased. The wisdom behind specifying
the legally prescribed period Idda four months and ten days is to
is no, sign
ensure that therp /of pregnancy so that a legitimate child will not
be deprived of his true lineage, and in order to forbid the confusion
if the ancestral line; If pregnancy is assured, then the legal
period is extended to the end of her pregnancy in accordance with
the words of the Qur-lan C2:. 234. and 228).
After the expiration of the legal period, the widow has the right
to take off the garments of mourning and to marry whoever she desires.
Islam forbids the relatives of the deceased and his son to deny her
this right, as was the tradition before the emergence of Islam. when
the son of the deceased used to impose hevkself on the widow as we
mentioned earlier, with full liberty to marry her without assigning a
dowry (except that of the deceased) If he did not want her himself,
,
.,
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