Chapter on the Wife’s Maintenance

Nafaqāt (maintenance payments) is the plural of nafaqa. In ordinary Arabic it denotes coins and other forms of wealth; in Islamic law it means providing, in an acceptable manner, whatever suffices those whom one supports—food, lodging, and everything that goes with them.

The very first financial duty a man owes is the maintenance of his wife. He must therefore furnish her with food, clothing, and housing suited to a woman of her standing.

Allah the Exalted says, “Let the man of means spend according to his means” ⦗Quran 65:7⦘, and He says, “Women have rights similar to the obligations they bear, in an acceptable manner” ⦗Quran 2:228⦘. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Their provision and their clothing, in an acceptable manner, are incumbent upon you,” a hadith recorded by Muslim and Abu Dawud.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) commented, “The verse ‘Women have rights similar to the obligations they bear, in an acceptable manner’ covers all the wife’s rights and duties, and their assessment returns to what people customarily recognize, quantify, and repeat.” End quote.

When the couple disputes the amount, the judge sets the wife’s maintenance according to their circumstances—whether both are affluent, both are of limited means, or one is wealthy while the other is not.