﴿ وَٱلَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَٰجًۭا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍۢ وَعَشْرًۭا ۖ فَإِذَا بَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِيمَا فَعَلْنَ فِىٓ أَنفُسِهِنَّ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌۭ ﴾

“And if any of you die and leave wives behind, they shall undergo, without remarrying, a waiting-period of four months and ten days; whereupon, when they have reached the end of their waiting-term, there shall be no sin in whatever they may do with their persons in a lawful manner. And God is aware of all that you do.”

While explaining the laws of marriage and divorce the Quran repeatedly enjoins going in fear of God and being kind to others. This shows that to carry out any command in its true spirit, individuals are required to go beyond the wording of that command, in its purely legal sense. Rather they must have feelings of goodwill, well-wishing, kindness and justice for one another. At the same time they must always go in fear of God: if they do not behave properly with their fellow men, they will incur God’s displeasure. On Judgement Day neither will excuses come to their rescue, nor will they be able to hide anything from God.