I want to Zainab bint Jahsh when her brother died. She asked for perfume and used some of it and said, “By Allah, I am not in need of perfume, but I have heard Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) saying on the pulpit, ‘It is not lawful for a lady who believes in Allah and the last day to mourn for more than three days except for her husband for whom she should mourn for four months and ten days.'”
“I heard my mother, Um Salama saying that a woman came to Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) and said, “O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! The husband of my daughter has died and she is suffering from an eye disease, can she apply kohl to her eye?” Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) replied, “No,” twice or thrice. (Every time she repeated her question) he said, “No.” Then Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) added, “It is just a matter of four months and ten days. In the Pre-Islamic Period of ignorance a widow among you should throw a globe of dung when one year has elapsed.”