Iddat in hajj tour

Question

We (me,my father,my mother) came Mecca for hajj. However my father died in Mecca. We have completed our umra. Could any one let us know about the iddat duration for my mother and other rules for iddat. Some people are saying it will start after we will reach our home . Some people are saying it's already started. Others saying my mother should return to home without performing hajj as iddat should be completed in husband home

Answer 1

Here we need some more information.

Basically and according to the information you have provided there are two major differences:

• If you are coming from a location close to Mecca... in that case your mother should return to her home and stay there for the rest of her 'iddah.
• If you are coming from far away your mother can complete her hajj (and complete her 'iddah once she finished the hajj and turned back at home).

Ibn Qudaamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said in al-Mughni (8/134-135): If she sets out, and her husband dies on the road, then she should go back if she is still close (to home), because she still comes under the rulings of one who is not travelling. But if she has gone far in her journey, Maalik says that she should go back so long as she has not entered ihram, but the correct view is that one who has gone far away should not return.

The view that it is obligatory to go back if she is still close is the report narrated from Sa‘eed ibn al-Musayyab who said: Some husbands died when their wives were doing Hajj or ‘Umrah, and ‘Umar sent them back from Dhu’l-Hulayfah, so that they could observe ‘iddah in their houses. If it is possible for the woman to observe ‘iddah in her house before she has gone far, then she must do so, such as if she has not yet left the built-up area [of her city]. However, the one who has travelled far is not obliged to come back, because it will cause her difficulty and will require her to travel, so it is similar to the case of one who has reached her destination. (source: Islamqa #145446)

The reason most scholars follow this opinion is that turning back to perform 'iddah includes some hardship, and not completing her hajj invalidates the hajj while not completing or interrupting the 'iddah by traveling which usually is not allowed, but in this case the preferred solution (as a wife vor widow should perform her 'iddah at her husbands home) is also an issue, but the issue of hajj especially if it was a fard hajj (not a 2nd or 3rd etc. hajj) overbalances the other!

Note that of course she starts her 'iddah at the day of her husbands death

If you can read Arabic here's a short fatwa of sheikh al-Albani on your exact issue.