and both have a child, then the maintenance is borne by the father. The evidence is Allah’s saying: “The father of the child shall provide for them and clothe them according to what is acceptable” [al-Baqarah 2:233]. He did not assign any of this duty to the mother. Also, the Prophet ﷺ said to Hind: “Take what is sufficient for you and your children, according to what is acceptable.” (1) Thus, the Quran and the sunnah indicate that the father alone is responsible for the maintenance of the child.

However, there is an issue here: if a man is poor and has a wealthy father and a wealthy son, is the father alone responsible for his maintenance? Or should we say that it is the son’s responsibility? Or should we say that the father bears one-sixth and the son the remainder, since that is how they inherit?

As for the madhhab, the apparent meaning of their statements in this case is that the maintenance is the father’s responsibility, due to the general wording of Allah’s saying: “The father of the child shall provide for them and clothe them according to what is acceptable.”

The second view, chosen by Ibn Aqil, one of our scholars, is that the maintenance is the son’s responsibility.

The third view is that the father bears one-sixth and the son bears the remainder.

The response to the first view may be that the verse concerns a nursing infant, and a nursing infant has no child. Allah Most High says concerning the nursing infant: “Mothers may breastfeed their children for two complete years, for whoever wishes to complete the nursing period,” then, “The father of the child shall provide for them.” Thus, the verse is not general; rather, it establishes a ruling for a particular situation: a mother nursing the child of a man, who must therefore support her. But the case we have mentioned does not fall under the verse.