cotton is normally used; yet if, for a woman of her standing, local custom favors linen or silk, then that too becomes obligatory according to the sounder view.
He must also provide something to sit on—such as a rug, a felt mat, or a reed mat—and, on the stronger position, bedding for sleep, a pillow, and a quilt for winter.
Likewise required are toiletries: a comb, oil, something with which to wash the hair, and a murtak (a deodorant resin) or the like to remove unpleasant odor, but not kohl, henna, or other articles of adornment.
Medicine, the physician’s fee, and the fee of the cupper are all due when she is ill, and she remains entitled to her food and its condiment throughout her sickness.
The more correct opinion also obliges him to pay the charge for a hammam (public bath) in accordance with local custom, as well as the price of the water needed for the ritual bath after intercourse or post-partum bleeding—though not after menstruation or a nocturnal emission.
She is further entitled to utensils for eating, drinking, and cooking—such as a cooking pot, a large bowl, a jug, a water jar, and similar items—and to a dwelling suited to her, even though it need not belong to him.
If a woman of her status would not normally serve herself, he must provide a servant: a free woman, one of his own slave girls, a hired maid, or by maintaining any free woman or slave girl who accompanies her for that purpose. This requirement holds whether the husband is wealthy, of moderate means, poor, or even himself a slave.
If he fulfils the duty with a free woman or a slave girl hired for wages, nothing more is required; but if he assigns his own slave girl, he must support her by virtue of ownership, and if the servant is a companion of the wife, her maintenance likewise falls on him.
The maid receives the same ration as the wife: one mudd when the husband is poor, and—on the sounder view—the same when he is of average means, while the wealthy husband provides one mudd and one-third.
She is also given clothing appropriate to her rank and, on the stronger opinion, a share of condiment, though not cleaning implements—unless filth builds up and she suffers from lice, in which case relief is obligatory.
A woman who normally serves herself, if struck by illness or disability, must likewise be supplied a servant, but no servant is due to a slave wife.
In short, lodging is owed as usufruct, whereas consumables such as food must be transferred to her ownership so that she may dispose of them; if she tries to stint herself to her own harm, he may prevent her.
Items whose benefit endures—clothing, food containers, a comb—are also, in the principal view, given in ownership, although another opinion holds that mere usufruct suffices. Clothing is supplied at the start of winter and of summer; if it wears out during the season without her fault, it is not replaced under the ownership view. Should she die, it reverts to him and is not returned. If he neglects to clothe her for any period, the cost becomes a debt upon him.