Fatwa ID: 05252

Answered by: Mufti Eunus Ali 

Question

My father-in-law is 85, my husband’s stepmother is also 85, my husband’s siblings always talk nasty things behind her back. Does she have to go stay with her own children when my father-in-law passed on? What are her rights?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer

Allah has stated:

O you who believe, no men should ever scoff at other men. Perhaps the latter is better than the former nor should women (ever scoff) at other women. Maybe, the latter women are better than the former ones. And do not find fault with one another, nor call one another with bad nicknames. Bad is the name of sinfulness after embracing Faith.  If anyone does not repent, then such people are the wrongdoers. O you who believe, abstain from many of the suspicions. Some suspicions are sins.  And do not be curious (to find out the faults of others), and do not backbite one another. Does one of you like that he eats the flesh of his dead brother? You would abhor it.  And fear Allah. Surely Allah is Most-Relenting, Very-Merciful. O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into races and tribes, so that you may identify one another. Surely the noblest of you, in Allah’s sight, is the one who is most pious of you. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (Surah Hujurat: 11-13)

It is narrated by `Abdullah bin `Amr (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “A Muslim is the one who avoids harming Muslims with his tongue or his hands. And a Muhajir (an emigrant) is the one who gives up (abandons) all that Allah has forbidden.”[1]

We understand from the above that it is not from amongst the characteristic to abuse and insult another and therefore needs to be abandoned.

A woman whose husband has passed away will have to complete her waiting period (iddah) of four months and ten days at her husband’s house. After the wife has completed this she has the right to move away. [2]

Only Allah knows best

Written by Mufti Eunus Ali

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

[1] Saheeh Bukhari: 6484

[2] Al-Lubab Fi Sharhil Kitab, Page 483, Al-Maktabatul Umariyyah