Accordingly, for an affluent woman married to an affluent man the judge fixes a sum that fully meets her needs, drawn from the kind of food an affluent wife customarily eats in their locality. He likewise assigns her the clothing normally worn by well-to-do women of that town, together with the bedding and household furnishings that befit her station there.

For a poor woman married to a poor man, he sets—in food, clothing, bedding, and furnishings—whatever is suitable for someone of her standing in that community.

For a woman of moderate means married to a man of moderate means, and for the situations in which a wealthy woman is married to a poor man or a poor woman to a wealthy man, the allowance is fixed somewhere between the upper limit (the maintenance of the affluent couple) and the lower limit (the maintenance of the poor couple), in accordance with local custom and usage, for that is what best fits their circumstances.

The husband is also responsible for his wife’s personal hygiene expenses: oils, sidr (lotus leaves used as a cleanser), soap, and the water she needs for drinking, ritual purification, and general cleanliness.

Everything mentioned thus far concerns a wife who remains within the marital bond. If he divorces her and she enters the waiting period (ʿiddah): when the divorce is revocable (rajʿī), her maintenance remains incumbent upon him for the entire ʿiddah, just like that of a wife, because she is still deemed a wife. Allah the Exalted says, “Their husbands have a better right to take them back during that time” (Quran 2:228).

As for a woman divorced with an irrevocable divorce, whether major or minor (bāʾin), she is entitled to neither maintenance nor lodging. The two Ṣaḥīḥs record the hadith of Fāṭimah bint Qays: when her husband divorced her irrevocably, the Prophet ﷺ said, “You are not entitled to maintenance or housing.”