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Fatwa CenterA wife's maintenance
Question
salam I would like to konw if Islamicly it is the husband's right not to give his wife money and enough for him to say i will buy you whatever you need and what she does need to buy to beg for money?.salamjazakumullak khayran
Answer
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
A husband has to maintain his wife, i.e. to provide her with food, housing, medicine and a servant (if she was served at her father's house or if women like her are served) even though she is rich.
Allah says: {but the father of the child shall bear the cost of the mother's food and clothing on a reasonable basis} [2:233]
This means a father is required to provide his wife with sufficient food and clothes as it is the habit of people live in the same area.
Allah says: {Lodge them (the divorced women) where you dwell, according to your means, and do not treat them in such a harmful way that they be obliged to leave. And if they are pregnant, then spend on them till they deliver.} [65:6]
{Let the rich man spend according to his means, and the man whose resources are restricted, let him spend according to what Allâh has given him. Allâh puts no burden on any person beyond what He has given him. [65:7]
It is recorded in Sahih Muslim that the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Fear Allah concerning women since you have taken them on the security of Allah and have made their persons lawful to you by words of Allah! It is incumbent upon them to honor their conjugal right and, not to commit acts of impropriety which, if they do, you have authority to chastise them, yet not severely. If your wives refrain from impropriety and are faithful to you, clothe and feed them suitably."
Another Hadith recorded by Bukhari and Muslim from Aisha (Radi Allah Anha) that Hind the daughter of Utba said: 'O Allah's Messenger (Sallalla Allah wa Sallam), Abu Sufyan is a miser man, who does not give me what suffices me and my children, unless if I take without his knowledge. The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Take exactly what suffices you and your children".'
So, if a husband gives what is required from him to maintain his wife she has no right to seek more. Then, her husband should not leave his wife without money, since a wife needs money for some private needs.
Allah knows best.
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