• Is Iddah (waiting period) incumbent on an old lady whose husband had died?
Upon the death of the husband, Iddah is incumbent on the wife regardless of her age.
• Is it permissible for a woman to inherit equal shares as men?
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all if his family and companions.
Revising the cases in which woman's right to inherit according to law of distribution of estate indicates that there are more than one case by which women inherit the same as men and more, or to have the right to inherit while men who share the same family line with her don't have the right to inherit because the deceased has closer ties of kinship with her. In addition to specific cases whereas a woman inherits half share in comparison with man's share although they had the same degree of kinship with the deceased. For further details as regards these cases, kindly refer to elaborated jurisprudence books. And Allah Knows Best.
• I have vowed that if Allah gave me what I wanted so bad, I would fast every Monday and Thursday to the rest of my life; unless there is a valid excuse hindering me from doing so. Fortunately, Allah gave me what I wanted, so I started fasting Mondays and Thursdays; however, I stopped out of laziness. What is the Sharia ruling on this?
All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May Allah`s peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
Allah the Almighty described the righteous people of Jannah where He said:" They perform (their) vows, and they fear a Day whose evil flies far and wide."{Al-Insan, 7}. Accordingly, you must do your best to fulfill your vow. However, if you are unable to do so, then feed a poor person for every missed day of fast (About half a JD), and if you are unable to do that, then offer expiation for breaking a vow, which is feeding ten poor Muslims (About half a JD for each), ask Allah for forgiveness and increase remembrance of Him. And Allah the Almighty knows best.
• Is it a condition that the meat of the Eid sacrifice should be distributed in order for the sacrifice to be accepted by Allah?
The poor and needy should be given from that sacrifice , even if it be a small portion,(One kilo for example) as raw meat so that they would cook it the way they want. The remainder of that sacrifice is either distributed, eaten, or offered to people in a banquette .