WIDOWS

Arabic armalah ( ارملة‎ ). Heb. ‏אַלְמָנָה‎ almānāh . Mourning is incumbent upon a widow for a period of four months and ten days after the death of her husband. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah , vol. i. p. 370.) After this period she may lawfully take another husband, provided she be not pregnant of her first husband. A widow’s share of her late husband’s property is one- eighth when there is a child, or a son’s child, how low soever, and a fourth when there is no child. Though a man may have as many as four wives, the provision for two or more is the same as that for one: the fourth or eighth, as the case may be , being divisible among them equally. (Baillie’s Law of Inheritance , p. 59.) If a Muslim, whose wife was once a Christian should die, and his widow appear before a Qāẓī and declare that she is Muslim, and that she embraced the faith prior to the death of her husband, and the heirs a ert the contrary, the a ertion of the heirs is to be credited to the exclusion of the rights of the widow. And if a Christian die, and his widow appear before the Qāẓī as a Muslim, and the heirs declare the contrary, the a ertion of the heirs is to be credited to the exclusion of the widow. (Grady’s Hidāyah , p. 347.)