Sahih al-Bukhari 5338

Hadith text

Narrated Um Salama: A woman was bereaved of her husband and her relatives worried about her eyes (which were diseased). They came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), and asked him to allow them to treat her eyes with kohl, but he said, "She should not apply kohl to her eyes. (In the Pre-Islamic period of Ignorance) a widowed woman among you would stay in the worst of her clothes (or the worst part of her house) and when a year had elapsed, if a dog passed by her, she would throw a globe of dung, Nay, (she cannot use kohl) till four months and ten days have elapsed

Umm Salama bataati hain: Ek aurat apne shohar ki maut se dukhi thi aur uske rishtedaar uski (bimaar) aankhon ke baare mein pareshaan the. Wo Allah ke Rasool (SAW) ke paas aaye aur unhein surma se uski aankhon ka ilaaj karne ki ijaazat maangi, magar unhone kaha, 'Use surma nahi lagaana chaahiye. (Jaahiliyat ke daur mein) tum mein se koi biwaa apne sabse bure kapdon (ya ghar ke sabse bure hisse) mein rehti, aur jab ek saal guzar jaata, agar koi kutta uske paas se guzarta, to wo gobar ka golaa phenkti. Nahi, (wo surma tab tak nahi laga sakti) jab tak chaar mahine das din na guzar jaayein.'

Sahih al-Bukhari 5338 · Book 68, Hadith 83