Q: In late Sha`ban, 1399 A.H., my seventy-year-old father died, may Allah encompass him with His Mercy, and place him to dwell in (Part No. 20; Page No. 459) His spacious Paradise. Soon after my father's death, I moved my mother and sisters to a nearby city where I own a home. My father (may Allah be merciful to him) was living in the suburbs of the city, and moving them was due to my mother's pressing need to be in the city, because of the diseases she suffers from. I heard on a radio program on Hadith that a widow is not to leave her house until her `Iddah ends. Given that I have moved my mother and her children from the suburbs into town, I ask whether my mother is to blame for this or not? I have another question. My mourning mother was stricken by a disease that kept her in the hospital for three days. She had chest xrays and tests done and her physician was a man. After leaving the hospital, she was instructed to return for further necessary check-ups and the required treatment. She continued having these check-ups with the physician during her mourning, when necessary. In the last month of her mourning period, she was stricken by hemiplegia (Part No. 20; Page No. 460) and was hospitalized until she died fifteen days later, while she was still in her mourning period, may Allah encompass her with His Mercy and place her to dwell in His spacious Paradise. During her stay at the hospital, she was in a room with another female patient who was visited by Ajanib (men other than a husband or permanently unmarriageable male relatives) who would see my mother, bearing in mind that she was in a coma and could not prevent being seen by Ajanib. Moreover, the physicians who treated and xrayed her body were men. Your Honor, is my mother to blame for any of this?Please reply.

A: First, there was no wrong in your having moved your mother and sisters from the suburbs to town, after the death of your father; given that your mother was ill and in need of treatment. Second, the woman who mourned her husband and fell ill and went, meanwhile, to the hospital to be treated and then later returned for further treatment is not sinful, based on the generality of His statement (Exalted be He): Allâh intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. (Part No. 20; Page No. 461) He (Exalted be He) also states: So keep your duty to Allâh and fear Him as much as you can Third, your mother is not to blame for being hospitalized till she died while in her `Iddah (woman's prescribed waiting period after widowhood). Likewise, she is not to blame for receiving treatment from male physicians, or for Ajanib who visited their Mahrams (spouses or unmarriageable relatives) who were with her in the room. May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet, his family and Companions.