AI Tabataba'i claims a consensus of the ulama' on this point.

AI Tabataba'i claims a consensus of the ulama' on this point. [^33] If the husband by mut'a of a free woman should die, her waiting period is four months and ten days, so long as she is not pregnant and whether or not the marriage was consummated. [^34] According to the Qur'an: 'Those of you who die, leaving wives, they shall wait by themselves for four months and ten days' (2:234).

If the wife should be a slave, her waiting period is two months and five days, a point established by a large number of hadith.

It has been related that al-Shaykh al-Mufid, al-Sayyid al-Murtada, and certain other authorities held the opinion that the waiting period of a temporary wife whose husband dies is two months and five days, [^35] for two reasons: first, two months and five days is the waiting period of a slave and-as has already been shown-when the time period of mut'a expires or the remaining time is returned to the wife, the wife's waiting period is the same as that of a slave.

Here also her waiting period must be the same as that of a slave. Second, the Imam Ja'far was asked about the waiting period of a temporary wife whose husband dies. He answered: 'Sixty-five days.' [^36] Al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Hasan rejects this opinion as follows: the first reason is based on analogy (qiyas),[^37] which cannot be a valid basis for a juridical opinion in Shi'ism. The second reason is based upon a hadith of the mursal type, i.e., its chain of transmission is incomplete.

Such a hadith can only be authoritative if it is strengthened by some other factor (such as 'shuhra': being accepted by most of the ulama). Hence, in face of the stronger hadith which exist on the matter, one must reject this particular hadith and say that the waiting period of a temporary wife whose husband dies, whether she is free or a slave, is four months and ten days.

[^38] The reason given for this is the hadith of the Imam al-Baqir quoted above: 'For every marriage, if the husband should die, the wife must observe a waiting period of four months and ten days. ..' A hadith is also related from the Imam Ja'far to this effect. But al-Shahid al Thani rejects this opinion on the following grounds: To conclude from these two hadith that the waiting period of a temporary wife is definitely four months and ten days is problematic.