Whether wife is obliged to cook for husband

22-8-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. I heard that our mother, Eve, used to cook for our father, Adam, peace be upon him. Is there any authentic source that confirms this? Should wives cook for their husbands?

---

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

We could not find any basis for this information in the reliable books of the Muslim scholars. Scholars held different views regarding the woman serving her husband. The preponderant opinion in our view is that the wife is obliged to serve her husband, as we have previously underlined in fatwas 86406 and 86344.

It was reported in the Sunnah that the wives of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to serve him and cook for him and that he, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to help them with their chores out of his noble character. Al-Aswad, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated, "I asked ‘Aa'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, 'What did the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, do in his house?' She said, 'He used to help his family (with their chores), and when it was time for the prayer, he would go out for the prayer.'" [Al-Bukhaari]

It was also narrated on the authority of ‘Aa'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, that she said, "He was a human like all other humans. He used to remove the fleas from his garment, milk his goat, and serve himself." [Ahmad]

This is how marital life should be understood, that it is based on cooperation, mutual understanding, and serving one another. If the woman mostly takes care of the household chores, the man mostly goes out to earn a living to provide for the family; so he serves her and she serves him.

Allah knows best.