5. A number of our people have narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad from ibn abu Nasr from Rifa‘ah who has said the following: “I once asked abu ‘Abd Allah , about the case of a woman whose husband dies and he is absent and about when she must begin counting her waiting period. He (the Imam) said, ‘It is from the day the news reaches her. The Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, said to women,

“One of you would wait for one year, when her husband died and he was absent, hold back her carnal desires and throw it behind her.’””