<![CDATA[This study examines how the Islamic waiting period ('iddah) and mourning practice (ihdad) intersect with civil-service leave entitlements in Indonesia, focusing on the tension between religious mourning obligations, women’s right to work, and personnel policy for employees who lose a spouse. Two female civil servants at UIN Salatiga who had completed 'iddah after their husbands’ deaths were purposively selected from five potential informants; the other three declined, a limitation this study acknowledges given the sensitivity of grief-related research. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, analyzed thematically, and triangulated against Civil Service Agency Regulation No. 24/2017 (as amended by Regulation No. 7/2021) and recent fiqh literature. Both informants negotiated rather than fully resolved the tension: neither violated 'iddah’s core legal prohibitions, but leave ceilings far shorter than the 130-day waiting period meant ihdad’s stricter behavioral norms could not be fully observed. This negotiation is better explained through maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah, distinguishing ḍarūrah (necessity) from ḥājah (pressing need), than through a claim of full compliance or a binary framing of religious duty versus paid work. The study argues for a contextual reinterpretation of 'iddah and ihdad for working women and recommends that civil-service institutions formalize dedicated bereavement leave, flexible work arrangements, and psychological support for staff experiencing loss]]>
