11. THE WIFE’S FINANCIAL SUPPORT
THE WIFE’S FINANCIAL SUPPORT
(Support means the financial rights of a wife.)
(The rulings of this section are not recommendations for how much to spend, but rather define the minimum permissible, which a stingy husband may not lawfully spend less than. Extra spending on one’s wife is charity.)
FOOD
The husband is obliged to provide his wife’s sustenance day by day. If affluent, he must daily furnish her with one liter of the grain that is the staple food of the town in which they live. (By the grain that is the staple food of the town, the author means if people eat it. If not, then whatever they eat, even if it is hardened, dried white cheese. If the wife asks for something other than the staple food of the town, the husband does not have to provide it for her, and if he gives her something besides the staple, she need not accept it. The staple food is what is obligatory.) If he is not affluent, then he is obliged to provide 0.51 liters of grain a day for his wife; while if between affluence and non-affluence, he must provide 0.77 liters per day.
He is also obliged to cover the expenses of grinding it into flour and baking it into bread (even when she is used to doing it herself, as there would otherwise be need for this expenditure), and to buy the foods that normally accompany bread to make it savory and agreeable, as much as is customary in the town of meat, oil, and so forth (such as dates, vinegar, and cheese. The obligatory measures differ with the seasons, it being necessary in each season to provide that which is proper to it. Fruits might predominate in one season, and thus be Obligatory. As for the obligatory amount of meat, one sees how much is customarily consumed in town per week).
If husband and wife agree that he give her compensation in place of the above-mentioned (grain and other things she is entitled to, the compensation being in money or clothing), this is permissible.
ARTICLES FOR PERSONAL HYGIENE
The wife in entitled to what she needs of oil for her hair, shampoo (lit. “sidr”), and a comb (to keep her hair clean, of the kind and amount this customary in town, in order to prevent harm to herself. If oil scented with rose or violet is the custom of the town, it must be provided, though not things which are merely cosmetic and not for cleanliness, such as eyeliner or henna, which need not be provided, though the husband may provide them if he wishes. It is also obligatory for him to provide deodorant (lit. “litharge”) or the like to stop underarm odor if water and soap will not suffice), and the price of water for her purificatory bath (ghusl) when the reason for it is sexual intercourse or the end of postnatal bleeding, though not if the reason is the end of her monthly period or something else.
COSMETICS AND MEDICINE
The husband is not obliged (but rather is recommended) to pay for his wife’s cosmetics, doctor’s fees, the purchase of medicine for her, and similar expenses (though he must pay for expenditures connected with childbirth).
CLOTHING
A wife is entitled to the kind of clothing that is customary in town for dressing oneself (and not just anything termed clothing will suffice. What is obligatory is the amount necessary for the woman, which varies according to whether she is tall or short, thin or fat, and with the hot or cold climate of various towns. In the summertime, it is obligatory to provide her with a head covering, shift, underdrawers, shoes, and a shawl, because of her need to go out; and the same in the wintertime, plus a cloak quilted with cotton to protect her against the cold. If she needs two cloaks because of the extreme cold, it is obligatory to provide them. If she needs fuel because of the severity of the winter, it is obligatory to buy the necessary wood and coal) and (he must also provide the amount customary in town of the) bedding, blankets, and pillows that are suitable for someone of his income. (She also deserves cooking implements, and utensils for eating and drinking).
It is obligatory for the husband to give his wife the expenditures for her support at the first of each day, and to provide her clothing at the first of each season (meaning the beginning of winter and summer).
If he gives her clothing for a season, and it wears out before the end of the season, he is not obliged to furnish new clothing, though if it lasts beyond the season, he is nevertheless obliged to provide new clothing for each new season. The wife is entitled to dispose of the clothing as she wishes, whether by selling it or other (means of disposal, such as giving it away, the reason being that it is her own property).
HOUSING AND SERVANTS
The wife is entitled to housing of the same quality as that of similar women. (The standard of housing depends on the wife herself, while the standard for her clothing and support takes the state of the husband into consideration. The difference is because the expenditures for her support and clothing become her own property and are not merely for her use, while housing is solely for use (meaning that while she can take compensation in price of food or clothing and buy some other kind, she cannot rent a different house). In any case, she is obliged to stay in the lodgings her husband arranges for her.)
If she had servants in her father’s house, the husband is obliged to provide servants for her.
THE CONDITIONS THAT ENTITLE A WIFE TO SUPPORT
The husband is only obliged to support his wife when she gives herself to him or offers to, meaning she allows him full enjoyment of her person and does not refuse him sex at any time of the night or day. She is not entitled to support from her husband when:
1. she is rebellious (nashiz), (meaning when she does not obey him) even if for a moment;
2. she travels without his permission, or with his permission but for one of her own needs;
3. she assumes ihram for hajj or ‘umra;
4. or when she performs a voluntary fast without her husband’s permission (though if he allows her to fast and does not ask her to break it, he must provide her support).
SUPPORT FOR A WOMAN IN HER POSTMARITAL WAITING PERIOD
As for a woman in her post marital waiting period, she is entitled to housing during it no matter if it is because of her husband’s death, a divorce in which the husband may take her back, or a threefold, finalized divorce. As for her support (in terms of food) and clothing:
1. it is not obligatory to provide her with it during the waiting period after (a threefold divorce, a release for payment, or) her husband’s death;
2. it must be provided in the waiting period of a (not yet threefold) divorce in which her husband may take her back;
3. and if a woman in the waiting period of a threefold divorce is pregnant, she is given support each day (until the child is born, after which she is entitled to support and wages for taking care of it), but if not pregnant, she is not entitled to support.
If the husband and wife disagree (in court, when neither has proof) about whether she received her support from him, her word is accepted over his. If they disagree as to whether she allowed him full enjoyment of her person, then his word is accepted over hers unless he admits that she first made herself available to him, but claims she then refused, in which case her word is accepted over his.
Whenever the husband neglects to provide his wife’s support for a period of time, the amount he should have paid remains a debt he owes to her.
The wife is entitled to annul their marriage whenever the husband is unable to provide her with the support obligatory for a nonaffluent person to pay and provide clothing or housing for her.
H she wishes, she may choose to bear with him (supporting herself with her own money). and it (the amount the husband is unable to pay) remains a financial obligation that he owes her. (If she does not wish to tolerate his financial incapacity, she cannot annul the marriage by herself, but must establish her husband’s inability to support her before the Islamic judge, who annuls the marriage or allows her to do so, since he is the one who judges the matter (and if there is no judge, she has two persons decide).
The wife is not entitled to annul the marriage when the husband is unable to provide foods besides the staple food, support her servant, or provide the support that must be provided by an affluent person or person between affluence and non-affluence.
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