Is it permissible for a widow to inform her brother-in-law implicitly or explicitly of her desire to marry him? Please, provide the references or the name of the Mufti. May Allaah Reward you.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

Muslim scholars unanimously agreed that it is prohibited for any man to explicitly express his desire to marry a woman during her ‘Iddah. The Hanbali scholar Al-Buhooti said, “Explicit expression of the desire to marry a woman, in a way that can not bear any other meaning, during her ‘Iddah, from an irrevocable divorce is prohibited. There is consensus about this reported in Al-Mubdi’.”

Furthermore, the Maaliki scholar and author of At-Taaj wa Al-Ikleel reported on the authority of Ibn ‘Abdul-Barr that he said, “The explicit marriage proposal for a woman during her ‘Iddah is unanimously forbidden.”

An implicit proposal to a woman, during her ‘Iddah or to her guardian is permissible for a widow or the like; for Allaah The Exalted Says (what means): {There is no blame upon you for that to which you [indirectly] allude concerning a proposal to women or for what you conceal within yourselves.} [Quran 2:235]

It was narrated on the authority of Faatimah bint Qays that she said: “My husband divorced me irrevocably; I wore my clothes and went to inform the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. He said to me, ‘How many times did he divorce you?’ I answered, ‘Thrice.’ Whereupon, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, ‘You are not entitled to maintain allowance and go spend your ‘Iddah in the house of your cousin Ibn Umm Maktoom for he is a blind man, so you can take off your garments and he will not see you. As soon as your ‘Iddah is over, inform me.’” [An-Nasaa’i and others; Al-Albaani: Saheeh]

Al-Buhooti said, “It is permissible for one to express his desire to marry a woman implicitly if she is a widow or divorced by an irrevocable divorce. The same ruling applies to the woman’s response to the suitor during that period.”

Since it is impermissible for a Muslim man to propose explicitly to a woman during her ‘Iddah, it is impermissible for her to express her approval and acceptance of his proposal explicitly, not to mention proposing to a man. However, she is allowed to hint at her wish to marry him implicitly. It is worth mentioning that all the above applies to a woman during her ‘Iddah and as soon as her ‘Iddah is over, it is permissible for her to allude to or express her desire to remarry explicitly.

Allaah Knows best.